BALTIMORE — Over 900 companies flocked to the Baltimore Convention Center for the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show.
That trade show, now in its 55th year, is dedicated to all things in ornamental horticulture, from stone to machinery to flowers.
One participating brand was Mulch Mate, made by Dawson Manufacturing, which creates dispensers for product that can be carried in truck beds.
Mulch Mate pulls material out of the back of a truck, eliminating the need for a person to do it.
“If you’re distributing mulch, hay, stone, even manure to that regard, you can do it,” said Bryan Pritchard, the director of sales.
Ayers Supply, based in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, provides natural stone to dealers and wholesalers. Architectural sales director Zack Kelleher said last year was down for the company, but he expects 2025 will be an improvement.
“I think it’s going to be better because quite honestly, there’s going to be a little more money in everybody’s pockets,” he said. “We had a big push with COVID, everybody was home and wanted their space to look nice, so I think that ballooned up our sales.”
Laura Hagmann of Waverly Farm, a wholesale nursery for trees and shrubs in Maryland, said her newest product is hedges.
“We introduced them two years ago,” Hagmann said. “We found the landscapers really wanted to have something they could put in and it was done and it looked nice.”
Mathew Iafrate represented Clinton Nurseries, which grows flowering and evergreen shrubs as well as small fruit.
“We had some rough spots with weather early on, but we had a really good fall,” Iafrete said, “and we’re super excited for the spring.”
Mathew Iafrate of Clinton Nurseries prepares to water at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland.
Iafrate said shrubs have a lot of carryover appetite from the fall last year.
Vanessa Finney, the executive vice president of MANTS, has been affiliated with the show since its start; her parents ran the show when it started in the early ’70s.
“We offer anything soup to nuts that has to do with ornamental horticulture trade for professionals,” Finney said, “from initiation, development of that plant all the way through the ultimate sale of that plant.”
Finney said houseplants are still a hot commodity and that native plants are becoming more popular and common.
The drought last year affected the industry, Finney said. She heard from growers that after a strong fall, there are shortages or perceived shortages, so attendees were looking for plant material.
Kate Doode of Dutchman Tree Farms, which grows Christmas trees, said she was positive about the upcoming year.
“Our supply continues to be good,” she said. “The quality is there, and I’m not expecting a decline.”
