Victoria Starbuck
       Staff Writer

Each year the Green & Growin’ Convention draws garden aficionados from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and neighboring states. This yearly assemblage provides professionals and students in the green industry with opportunities to learn, buy and connect with each other.

This year, the convention was presented by the North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association, a statewide council that focuses on green industry, with a particular interest in the nursery and landscape sector. Members of the association include growers, landscape firms and educators.

According to the North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association’s goal statement, the organization strives to, “Benefit its members’ economic, professional and personal growth.”

      The Green & Growin’ 16 exhibition kept in line with the association’s goal statement, by providing its members with the opportunity to network and learn.

Lasting from Jan. 11-15, the Green & Growin’ exposition provided dedicated members of the green industry with the opportunity to mingle while continuing to grow and develop within their industry.  

      The first three days of the show consisted of educational components for the participants. These sessions were hosted in the Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons. Classes ranged from creative classes like Graphics and Design, to more garden specific classes such as Pesticide Licensing and Energy Saving Landscape Certification.

The total sum of courses provided within these three days surpassed 55.

Many of these sessions provided professionals in the green industry with opportunities to gain credit towards accreditation at the state, regional, and national levels. The educational component also featured a North Carolina Pesticide Licensing Class in Spanish.

      Thursday and Friday featured the Green and Growin’ Marketplace in the Special Events Center of the Greensboro Coliseum. At the marketplace, exposition participants and visitors were able to roam around a plethora of vegetation provided by participating organizations.

      The marketplace was open to amateurs in the green industry who wished to gain exposure to a variety of landscape and nursery options. As visitors weaved in and out of over 400 vendor stalls, the scent of the soil and blooms wafted through the Special Events Center.

The North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association lauds North Carolina for its environmental variety throughout the state. Visitors to the Green & Growin’ exhibition were given a fair sample of this assertion, with the greenery ranging from orange trees to evergreen shrubs.

      In addition to the breadth of flora variety, the Green & Growin’ Marketplace provided visitors with a wide range of landscape and nursery needs. From tractor exhibits to farm insurers to fertilizer sellers, the marketplace provided those in the green industry with almost everything they could wish to acquire for their businesses.

If the incentive of improved green businesses was not appealing in and of itself, vendors enticed potential customers with baskets of candy that they carefully placed near benches and chairs.

      The exhibit hall was divided into two sections, one of which provided participants the opportunity to try their stroke at a miniature golf competition.

The latter part of the week also featured meals and meetings tailored to specific groups, such as the Women in the Green Industry Gathering, and the North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association Membership Breakfast and Annual Meeting.

      The Green & Growin’ yearly events provide professionals in the green industry with the ability to connect with others in their business. Since many of the businesses are family-owned or of a smaller size, the participants of the Green & Growin’ events are often familiar faces from year to year.

      Through the smaller classes, meetings tailored to specific group and location of presenters within the exhibit hall, the Green & Growin’ 16 convention facilitated an environment for green industry professionals to network with new and old colleagues.

      As the exhibitors were breaking down their stands on Friday, calls of “see you next year” were heard throughout the center. These sentiments reminded guests that though the exhibition hall was large, and the hometowns of the exhibitors widespread, the community of the green industry remains tightly woven.