Stokes Says...

Recently at the TPIE (Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition) I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Mr. André Viette, an icon in gardening. Around 1996 or 1997, I had a telephone call from André, shortly after starting Stokes Tropicals and mailing out our first catalog and starting a website. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. As I recall it was a very pleasant call, with André being enthusiastically interested in our “new” tropical plant offerings. He wanted most of them for his St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, home and garden. André made a sizable order of some of our most exotic (Zone 10 plants) and we – I hope – successfully satisfied his order with our best quality plants.

Then many years went by – precisely 11 or 12 and I had no contact with him. Although he may have had contact with us through our website or our catalog. Then this January (Jan. 16-19) I attended the TPIE annual meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as I am wont to do every year and, lo and behold I see André Viette listed as one of the presenters in a special early morning seminar session. So being interested in the green revolution (the general subject of the session) and having remembered André as one of our early and very enthusiastic customers, I made it my business to attend his presentation. And, boy am I glad I did. He made a great presentation that captivated his audience of gardening experts with his masterful command of gardening facts, truisms and accounts of “what we used to do and should now be doing about gardening, fertilizing and caring for the environment”.
I learned that André’s father came to this country from Switzerland. And that André had gone to Cornell University and got a degree in horticulture. And he has a very successful nursery (André Viette Farm & Nursery) in Virginia and has a radio show “In the Garden” that is second to none in the U.S. – it reaches a potential listening audience of 3,000,000 people in Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. After his presentation that had every eye and ear in the room transfixed on him, I had the pleasure of introducing myself to him and his lovely wife, Claire. We talked plants and tropicals for a few minutes and I gave him a copy of my most recent catalog. And he graciously asked me to be on his Saturday radio show as a guest 2 weeks later. A date was set and I was telephoned at the appropriate time on a Saturday morning and had a short fact-filled interview (discussion) with André about bananas, gingers, heliconias and a few other tropicals – all in the space of 5 minutes or so. Such radio interviews on garden shows are electric to me. I eagerly look forward to them and they always end too quickly. Some of the garden radio shows that I appear on regularly are Garden Compass (in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho) on Saturdays and/or Sundays and WFLA 970 in Tampa, Fla., “Florida Gardening” with Mark Govan and Stan DeFreitas, which is on Sundays, and covers the Tampa Bay area (St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Bradenton, and environs).

But back to André, I understand he has a fantastic tropical garden on St. Thomas, in Charlotte Amalie, above the harbor. He and his wife lead tours to Costa Rica, on cruise ships, Australia and New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland and the Virgin Islands. I can’t wait to go and see him on St. Thomas. And by the way, he has just stocked up on some of the newest and hottest tropical plants for his garden on St. Thomas. I love to hear his enthusiastic and distinctive voice. The pleasure is mine.

Until my next blog,

Glenn

My first blog. I have been convinced that writing a regular blog is worthwhile to the tropical/exotic plant trade, Stokes Tropicals and myself. So I’m willing to embark on this adventure into blogging. First a little bit about me, a little bit about Stokes Tropicals. And a little bit about what can be expected in future.

I am a 3^rd generation plant geek. My grandfather Sam Stokes started the first plant nursery in Louisiana in the early 1900’s in Lecompte, La. I have one of his early plant catalogs which I will share offerings (and prices) surprise, surprise, with you in future. My father and several uncles were also in the nursery business. My daughter, son and grandchildren are now involved to varying degrees in nursery business. So that adds up to 5 generations. I think. Enough on this subject for now – it’s obvious plants are in our blood.

I grew up and worked in the nursery business and later became a landscape contractor and always had a special love for exotic, tropical, and strange plants that I had never seen or heard of before. This attraction led me to form Stokes Tropicals in 1995 because there were no color picture catalogs, no detailed descriptions, and very few common names for these wonderful plants. And there was no mention of these plants on the web, which was in its infancy. So one thing led to another. I put together a small full-color catalog with good descriptions and common names that one could pronounce and spell as opposed to the Latin/Greek tongue twisted scientific names. Then I started a website and got on the internet. Both catalog and website were enthusiastically received. So both marketing channels have been expanded and our print catalogs and website have been met with great reviews and nice acclaim, which I humbly appreciate. I have tried to promote tropical, exotic, rare plants and plants in general. Much more can be and is being done, and I eagerly look forward to the future of a greener, better, more educated, more discerning plant world.

Lastly my future blogs will be posted irregularly weekly or biweekly between travels, photo ventures, garden visits and tours, nursery business, lectures, conventions, and personal gardening. I look forward to the ride with trepidation and enthusiasm. I will keep pushing the envelope and keep looking for new and better tropicals.