The Amaryllis plant’s ability to grow incredibly quickly (sometimes gaining an inch or more a day) has inspired many people to “race” Amaryllis, according to a Jackson & Perkins press release. Whole offices participate in Amaryllis races, awarding ribbons to the plants that grew the fastest or produced the most beautiful blooms; and the latest trend is to compete with friends and family over Instagram using #AmaryllisChallenge.

MINNEAPOLIS — The 105-foot custom-built 18-wheeler, decorated with handwritten messages and signatures and carrying an 88-foot white spruce with a base diameter of 30 inches, arrived at the Boy Scout’s Northern Star Council’s Base Camp, here, its 16th of 32 whistle-stops en route to Washington, DC, from the Chippewa National Forest in north-central Minnesota. Accompanied by a second semi-trailer filled with 70 smaller companion trees and 10,000 handmade ornaments, and followed by several U.S. Forest Service escort vehicles containing Santa and Mrs.

The “Murder, Sex and Greed” animated awareness video produced by the American Floral Endowment has won its third communications award, a Thoth Award, from the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, according to a news release. The video was developed to educate the floriculture industry about the positive effects the floral nedowment has on critical industry concerns.

Flowers are traditionally given during times of grief, but Silver Vase Inc. takes these gifts of bereavement to a whole new level. Based in Homestead, FL, the grower donates orchids to the Miami chapter of The Compassionate Friends, an organization dedicated to comforting families grieving the loss of a child.

Nine months after that sickening 1 a.m. phone call when Joshua Bulk, co-owner of Rosa Flora Ltd. in Dunnville, ON, discovered a devastating fire that destroyed two out of five greenhouses, 15 custom-made trucks, sales facilities, coolers, loading docks and logistics, the company continues to rebuild and is still going strong. The blaze hit the business hard, affecting about 40 percent of its production and causing over $20 million in damages, but everyone went to work the next day and started planning the company’s recovery.

Now in its 45th year, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, known as “the masterpiece of trade shows,” will take place Jan. 14-16 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD, according to a news release. The state nursery and landscape associations of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia sponsor MANTS and each association will hold its annual meeting during the three-day event.