Eugenia Chapter’s booth display in the nonprofit section of Gardenfest! drew a LOT of people. We have an advantage in that the booth is located near the main entrance so enthusiastic visitors haven’t expended any energy at that point. They are still moving forward chanting the mantra “I want to see EVERYTHING”! I also like that location since it’s a great way to see the interesting plants people have bought as they head back to the parking lot. As would be expected, most of the plants are tropical ornamentals, but the Florida native plant purchases are continuing to increase every year.
Booth sitting kudos to our volunteers: John Ericson, Carla Flournoy, Charlie Flournoy, Mariam Greene, Pat Holland, Janet Kistler, Christy Northfield, Peggy Perkins, Felicity Rask, Carol Thomas, Peggy Thompson, and Sheryl Thomson. Talk to any one of them to find out how much fun it can be “sitting the booth” Remember: no one knows everything, and everyone knows something, so you don’t have to be THE expert to interface with the public in this capacity. Special thanks to Native Butterfly Flowers for loaning us native plants to display in our booth.
Pelican Island Audubon Society is our neighbor booth, so it’s fun to socialize with those folks whose interests overlap those of our Eugenia Chapter members. They had a clever new poster prominently displayed: “Now that the cold has killed all your exotic plants . . . “
I’m moving forward in 2026 saying “Live life on the wild side: plant native!”
ircnativeplants.org 