The Tropical Garden Fair

They say there is no rest for the wicked; I can confirm this is particularly true on Mother's Day! My day begins with a shocking 3 a.m. wake up call and a 2 hour drive to Cannon Racecourse in Cairns. Every year we participate in The Tropical Garden Fair. Yesterday the weather was exceptionally good for plant shopping and there was a fantastic turnout. Just thought I'd share a few photos of the day. Mark it on your calendar and come join us next year!

Setting up our stall, always hard with too little coffee

Lots of torch gingers and  some rattleshakers flowering in pots (I'm not kidding when I say rattleshakers are great for pot culture)

New Guinea Fans and Peter Buck were popular with our cordyline loving customers

Our beautiful healthy stock. All grown outside with no cover so they are strong, healthy and ready to go in the ground.

Finally Set up...

First stop our neighbor Mark's stall for my Mother's Day Lipstick palm :)

Time to kick back and catch up with friends. Ross's place is where we spent cyclone Yasi, he's been immortalized before on our blog.

Miguel Pascall caffinating up before going shopping.

Robyn Ganley who organizes the Tropical Garden Fair every year with her lovely aggies. 

 Chris and her always smiling helper Ross with an amazing selection of plants.

Suzi Carle. Great to see these guys back at the sales as the have such unique plants.

For my friend Ian who wisely believes solar hot water systems in the tropics/subtropics should be stainless steel. This one is 100%

I'll leave you with incredibly unusual white heliconia rostrata.