Lee’s Landscape News           March 12 2005 

Driving through Columbus’ “short north” near the convention center in late January the invasion of landscapers was in full swing. The parking lots were full of vans bearing nursery logo’s and pickup trucks with plow hitches and salt spreaders. I’m often asked what I do in the winter off-season.  After patiently explaining how I wear warmer clothing and observe holidays like Christmas I might bring up The Cents Show.

Actually the “s” stands for show in C.E.N.T.S. (It’s like saying NIC Card for you computer geeks)  I believe the acronym means central environmental trade show...but that isn’t generally agreed upon and the attendees refer to the convention as the Cents Show.  Essentially it is a green industry trade show not open to the public.

I forgot my camera, but I’m including a few shots taken with a gift shop disposable. The show wasn’t as dark as these pictures!

For the green industry and it’s allied trades this is the time for sales and purchasing.  Plant buyers and landscapers from Ohio and around the world count on the Cents Show for contacts and information.  It’s also a place to catch up with friends made over the years. 

It’s reassuring to see the landscaped displays of the growers with blooming trees and shrubs brought from their greenhouses. Yes, spring is on the way again!

Knock Out  will still be a strong selling shrub rose and it was found blooming in many nursery displays.  It’s long blooming period, disease resistance and hardiness are making it one of the mainstay plants of landscapers.

Perennial gardening is my favorite part of this business and seeing new varieties with foliage or in bloom in January always gets me thinking how I can improve our garden centers selection of these plants.

Corso’s always has a nice display of “Steppables” a branded line of gound covers that  “don’t mind” being stepped on.  I’m always tempted to stand on their plants while talking to see their reaction.

Keith Dill from Sidney, represents Fafard. He’s usually good for a few industry insider stories and technical information regarding soils and fertilizers. We love Fafards bagged products and feature their potting soils, peat moss, and other amendments in our garden center.

My water gardening stops included planning my water plant order and talking to my Ohio Aquascape Designs^TM distributor.  Improvements continue on the design of their pond systems.  I’ll be recommending their new type of fill valves for this years water garden installs.

It’s always worthwhile to spend a few minutes talking with horticulturist Mike Epp from Acorn Farms.  There are a lot of great Nursery salesmen at the show, but Mike is one of the most knowledgeable and is always ready with recommendations that make sense for our business.

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AM Leornard, a garden  catalog company located in nearby Piqua Ohio, sets up a full store of their gardening and landscaping products.  They were doing pretty swift sales on the wednesday afternoon I stopped by.

Reading Rock had a display of their pavers and wall products.  I managed to escape only hearing 4 or 5 of Barry’s stories. :)

There are around 1,500 booths to check out at C.E.N.T.S.

This is a tribute to how strong the landscape and gardening business is in Ohio.  The convention hall aisles packed with thousands of landscapers, designers, growers, and plant resellers. 

Educational opportunities abound during the show also. Exams are given for the ONLA Ohio Certified Nursery Technician (OCNT) program.

Concurrently the OSU Nursery Short Course offers an incredible schedule of classes. Entertaining speakers from around the country fill ballrooms with their slide shows and lectures.