The Gulf States Horticultural Expo, held at Mobile’s Arthur R. Outlaw Center January 17-19, celebrated its 10th Anniversary with another sold-out show. The GSHE is hosted jointly each year by the ALNLA, LNLA (Louisiana Nursery & Landscape Association), and MNLA (Mississippi Nursery & Nursery Association) and had more than 3,500 attendees, 435 exhibitors in 700 booths this year. The show again lived up to its billing as the Premier Winter Tradeshow of the South. 

The 2008 GSHE Educational Seminars on Thursday began with the General Session featuring two well-known Green Industry speakers: Anne M. Obarski, of St. Charles, Mo; and Linda Askey of Birmingham. Following these, there were six breakout workshops: Pest Management; Landscape Contracting and Maintenance; Irrigation; Retail; Greenhouse and Nursery; and Risk Management.

Rob Davis of Daviscapes in Birmingham attended the show for the second time as a business owner. Davis said, "The opportunity to visit with potential suppliers and growers all under one roof has saved me valuable time and helped me grow my business..."

On Friday, the first day of the tradeshow, Phillip Hunter of Hunter Trees, LLC, spoke highly of this year’s show saying, "We have been exhibiting at GSHE for 4 years. This is the most attendee traffic I have seen in a single day of any show I have attended. I will make sure I am signed up for next year!"