OvS Visits the Mid-Atlantic Nursery & Trade Show

As the temperatures plummeted this week throughout North American, nurserymen, landscape designers and landscape architects gathered in Baltimore for the annual Mid-Atlantic Nursery & Trade Show (MANTS) at the Convention Center.

This was the 44th annual meeting of this group in Baltimore with attendance at an all time high, in terms of both exhibitors and attendees.

Eric D. Groft, Principal at OvS, attended for the 13th time and was impressed at the number of nurseries represented, particularly growers specializing in native trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses. The “Native Movement” is more than a trend, it is here to stay and OvS considers this a good thing. Eric could not help but think of founder and mentor of OvS, Wolfgang Oehme, whose attendance was an annual event, if not a main attraction at MANTS for many “groupies” and plant enthusiasts. Starting in the fifties, Wolfgang was using native Panicum, Rudbeckia, Magnolia and Carex in his unique plant palette before the word “sustainable” took on its current meaning.

Eric visited with the “usual suspects” pictured below and numerous other nurseries and growers. He was in search of the elusive Stranvaesia prostrata, which has become a very hard to find plant. It’s adaptable nature, drought resistance and four seasons of interest made it a favorite of Wolfgang’s.