Hi Tom

I am planning to be there and hope to find something interesting. It is always fun to visit Leu Gardens.

Silvia

Hello,
This will be the first year going to the show for me. I have heard about all the neat goodies people have found. I am a member and have visited a few times and taken classes, so looking forward to plant sale!

Sadly this is a bit out of my range. Perhaps some day I will drop a hybrid engine into my Jimmy and it won't drink so much gas on road trips, but until that day... Maybe next year I will figure out which two more local shows to skip in lieu of going to Leu's.

You should make a weekend of it and take the kids to Sea World, they usually have passes for all year if you buy a one day admission for Florida residents. There is also Wekiva Springs, a great little swimming hole and picnic spot and Sanford Zoo is a blast, good family fun can be had the day before the show! If I want to go to a show out of my range, I have to book a Tee Time for my better half who can be bribed with 18 holes. Once I get to the show, I find him a shady spot, get a large bag of kettle corn and sweet tea, while he tries to find enough bars on his phone to catch streaming video of the latest golf tourney. If there is sausage and funnel cakes, that will buy me at least 45 more minutes!

Yeah, we did the annual passes for Sea World last year, which was sort of lucky because we got to check out Turtle Trek when it opened... for 'free' so to speak. Not sure what we're going to do the Annual Pass for this year. We thought about Silver Springs, but since I learned it's more like Silver Cesspools now, that plan is out. The kids are a bit young to fully enjoy Busch Gardens and Disney... well... that's just not going to happen.

If you like to garage sale, people in adjacent neighborhoods all use that Saturday as their yearly garage sale time, Also many churches hold their rummage sales that weekend. A few minutes west is Antique row. You are also a couple blocks away from the largest asian area in central Fl . Yummy food if your a little adventurous. Unfortunately the Central Fl tropical fruit club wont be there this year.

I went once before and had a great time and came back with some plants that I had never seen before and haven't seen again since, one being my much loved lion's tail. I will be going again this weekend along with my parents, my nephew age 8, niece age 6, and a friend. It'll be the first time my parents have been to Leu Gardens. Does anyone know if they have handicap parking at the garden? Mom has to use a wheelchair when there is too much walking involved. Last time I went I had to park on a side street a little ways away from the garden.

If you haven't gone before bring a cart for your plants....

No Central FL Tropical fruit club this year, rednofl? :(

Why not?

They have new rules only one vehicle per vendor can drop off. material. That logistic makes it difficult to get enough plants to the sale to make it worth while. There will be quite a few members bringing plants to sell at the Reeves United Methodist Church which is about a mile south on Ferncreek ave They have a rummage sale of sorts that weekend. The Central Florida Tropical fruit club is going to start meeting there in April. Any one who is interested we meet 3rd Monday every month. Its worth going just for the raffle every month.

Hey Robert.....I'm not going to Leu but I could easily do Reeves

Are you there.....selling....?

doug

I often go, but not this year. The new kitchen cabinets should arrive Friday or Saturday and there's just not enough time. The worst part of the whole thing is parking around Leu Gardens. What a pain!

Hi Doug
Not me personally . I'm not sure who will be there. I just know they were passing around a list to see what people had to donate to the sale.

I went to this sale last year and bought a great little jaboticaba for $10 from an old guy's yard in a nearby neighborhood. I will visit for awile again this year and then go take my college student at UCF out to lunch.

Hi there, Tina - another road trip!

I am going on Sunday - what day are you going?

We moved up to north Orlando in December...this is really far for you, but I totally understand how wonderful lunch is with your son in college!

Susie

Hi Susie I am going Sunday morning. I'll get there at 10. Then I'm off to see my son at UCF for lunch and then Nick and I (my 11 year old) are going to Epcot for yet another fix of green stuff! Want to meet up?

Epcot! I am so jealous!

I wish I could meet you guys, but I am taking my parents and sister and we're going after church. Might not be the best time to go; I don't know. But you will be long gone by the time we get there.

And it would be cool to get to meet Nick - and see you again, of course! Maybe there will be a time that I am over in your neck-of-the-woods . . . and I will call you for sure.

Had a great time at Leu Gardens and also stopped at the church to see the Tropical Fruit club.

rednofl, I'm not sure how the vehicle rule would keep them out, but not other vendors. There were certainly vendors there that either used more than one vehicle or must have brought a VERY large truck.

Anyone snag any photos of the event (or your purchases)? Post some photos and share! I wanna hear some stories of long sought exotics finally being acquired, or as-luck-would-have-it tales of simple convenience.

I don't have any photos but I can tell you that there was a very wide variety of plants there, including bamboo, bromilliads, fruit trees, various ornamentals ( both tropical and non), native plants, orchids, the list keeps going!

What I came home with was 2 peach trees (one floridaprince but I can't remember the second name), a purple-eyed grass, native false rosemary, asian hollyhocks, and a terrestrial pitcher plant. Mom bought a meyers lemon tree, a purple firespike, asian hollyhocks, and dwark fatahatchee grass. We both bought this neat native plant with red flowers but I can't remember the name of it right now. We also got some ideas for our yards from walking around the gardens. It was well worth the drive to attend!

We got to Leu Gardens early Saturday and I saw Tom the original poster, we were both looking the plants at one of the vendors, he was showing me the butterfly plants and I was looking at some herbs. Didn't take any pictures because I go there every year and is pretty much the same. Once my cart is filled it is time to go.:) I got a red shrimp plant, a pink honeysuckle vine, the herbs and some plants from the farm were 10 for $30 so I got that deal. I stopped by the tropical fruit trees and didn't get any because they didn't have what I wanted. I saw the vendor from going bananas and I didn't stopped there, no more for me since I am trying to downsize, too much fruit in my yard...

Silvia

I bought a bunch of butterfly and hummingbird plants, but I'm kicking myself today for not having purchased a camellia. There was a vendor there selling some that were about five feet tall for $18. I had no room at the time, but I should have bought one. Most vendors sell them for about $40 for that size and they take a long time to grow.

I was at Leu Gardens early on Saturday morning too. I headed straight for Hopkins Nursery. There I bought 2 cold hardy avocado trees, 'Joey' and 'Fantastic'. At one of the herb vendors I bought stevia and keylime basil. I hadn't heard of keylime basil so I bought it, after tasting it.

Something that I found interesting, particularly to show my daughter, is a self-contained hydroponic tower. It is quite expensive, but it sounded good for someone looking to garden that way.

Christine

Hi,
Was there Saturday, got Liliflora Magnolia Jane, Queen's Wreath, some gingers, New Guinea Trumpet Vine, Kangaroo Paw Plants, and 2 Daturas.

Thanks for sharing! Leu was a little further than I was willing to drive this time around, but it sounds like I missed one heck of a show.

Only real pic I got was of the yellow tree that my wife and I love in Leu Gardens. (which it won't seem to let me post right now for some reason)

I was mostly interested in tropical fruit and some butterfly/hummingbird flowers.

I came home with a Starfruit tree for $15 and a Sweet Almond bush for $10. My wife got a small gardenia for $8 and a blue flowering bush I've forgotten the name of.

I was absolutely amazed that Hopkins Nursery was selling 3 gallon peach trees for $10 and loquats for $5, but unfortunately I have those already or I would have snagged some in a heartbeat.

I was very tempted by some honeysuckle that smelled amazing, but I'm worried about how invasive it is, so need to do more research first.

here it is

Ooh Dog
what is it?

If I remember right the sign said that was a golden trumpet tree. Seeing that tree made me wish I lived just a little farther south so that I could grow it!

If I remember right the sign said that was a golden trumpet tree. Seeing that tree made me wish I lived just a little farther south so that I could grow it!

Handroanthus umbellatus, formerly Tabebuia umbellata