I spent the last two days at the underwhelming 2009 Landscape Expo! This was my first expo attended as a horticulture student and I was disappointed. One word, dry. Maybe my expectations were too high? In another life I was a staple at the car shows, peddling t-shirts and lanyards. I like to call it being supportive of friends who put on these car shows. You can make fun of me I have it coming.

I expected spinning John Deere tractors and loud music. Nope. At the very least I could expect friendly vendors. Nope. They seemed to want to be anywhere but at the expo and didn’t try very hard to advertise their products. One vendor has hawking chicken poop. My classmate Justin asked her questions about the product and she begrudgingly answered them. Perturbed by her indifference to us I gave Justin a better alternative. Rabbit manure, it’s higher in nitrogen than poultry manure and can be applied directly to your garden. Take that chicken poop lady; we don’t need your product! Continuing our walk through the morgue I mean venue I realized that as a lowly student you don’t get much respect at these things. “Beat it kid, you’re bothering me.” Whatevs.

There were some highlights; I met Ty Hall of Kellogg Garden Products. I was very excited to thank him in person for the generous donation (two pallets of soil) Kellogg made to the Wrigley Village Community Garden. Long Beach Parks, Recreation & Marine were representing.  City entities from near and far were in the house. I coveted their orange and brown uniforms adorned with city flair that declared what hood they were from. City of Long Beach, City of Torrance, City of Poway, and of course my beloved City of Los Angeles.

I scored a lot of waste at the expo, brochures, flyers, and many products I don’t know what do with like SUPERthrive and Gro-Power Toss ‘n’ Grow. *Sneeze* Snake oil! The SUPERthrive vendor was quite cantankerous and I couldn’t understand why a company would send out such an individual as its representative. While Justin was being reprimanded for incorrectly filling out a comment card I asked the woman handing out the samples how their company was doing. “Sorry, I know nothing about the product. I was just hired to hand out samples.” Que? The icing on the cake was hearing the cranky vendor tell Justin, “I’ll be honest with you, I get $3.00 for every comment card that’s filled out.” Wah wah… SUPERthrive should’ve stayed home.

One of the most useful things I collected was Top Dressing from Soil Pro Products made at Inland Empire Regional Composting Facility. It’s the nation’s largest indoor biosolids composting facility! I totally geeked out.

I was proud to represent the LBCC Horticulture Program. Our booth kicked ass and we made it a point to welcome everyone that walked by. Telling them about our curriculum and professing our superiority over Mt. Sac. Kidding! I’m looking forward to future expos. John Deere, Corona, any vendor, if you’re reading this, get the smoke machine and dj lights out and pimp those products like you care!

In case you’re wondering why this post is lacking relevant pictures, um, I temporarily misplaced my camera. Four tequila shots and an evening of punk rock make for a pukey evening. Thanks Alf for having the sense to pick up my cam.