Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA) held its 54th Annual Convention at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla., on June 15 – 17, 2006. with an audience of almost 280 industry members and families attending, FNGLA celebrated 54 years of service to the nursery & landscape industry and elected their 2006-2007 officers. The association welcomes its new leaders:
Paul Polomsky, TreeSource, Inc., Naples, President
Dave Self, Wyld West Annuals, Inc., Loxahatchee, President-Elect
Rosemary Warner, Native Southeastern Trees, Inc., Osteen, Secretary/Treasurer
Richard Carroll, Carroll Brothers Nursery, St. Petersburg, Immediate Past President
Paul Polomsky, TreeSource, Naples, Fl automatically moved from President-Elect to President of FNGLA.
Originally from Ohio, Polomsky moved to Florida in 1991 after his father-in-law, Win Hazen, owner and operator of PalmTech Nursery, invited Paul to join him in the family business. After Wynn passed away, Polomsky became sole operator and gave the nursery a new name, TreeSource, Inc., as it is known today. As soon as Polomsky joined the nursery industry he became active with the local FNGLA Royal Palm Chapter, serving in various leadership positions. Polomsky has served on FNGLA’s Board of Directors since 2000, is active on FNGLA’s Membership Committee and holds the Certification designation FCHP.
Self, Wyld West Annuals, Inc., Loxahatchee, FL, was elected as FNGLA’s President-Elect. He has owned and operated Wyld West Annuals, a wholesale company of flowering annuals, since 1976, just one year after moving to Florida from Michigan. He has been an FNGLA member since 1986 and has given much of his time to many FNGLA committees and programs including the Florida Plants of the Year, Certification, Marketing and Floriculture Division, of which he is the current Chairman. Self was also one of the founding fathers of the Loxahatchee Area Nurserymen’s Association and a key component in the merger of that association and the Palm Beach Wholesale Growers Association into FNGLA in 2005.
Elected as Secretary/Treasurer was Rosemary Warner. Warner and her husband Curtis own and operate Native Southeastern Trees, Inc., in Osteen, FL. She has been on FNGLA’s Board of Directors since 2001. She previously held FNGLA’s Central East Coast chapter’s secretary and vice president positions and served two consecutive terms as the chapter’s president. Warner also sits on the Volusia County Water Ordinance Task Force and the St. John’s Water Management Advisory Committee.
Carroll is now the Immediate Past President. Carroll, who holds both FNGLA Certification designations of FCHP and FCLC, and his brother Robert are the owners of Carroll Brothers Nursery, with locations in Clearwater and St. Petersburg, FL. Richard has served in a variety of positions in the FNGLA Pinellas Chapter as well as several FNGLA committees, including Certification, Garden Center Division and TPIE Short Course committees.
The Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association represents Florida's environmental horticulture industry, with an estimated $9.9 billion in sales. For more information, visit the FNGLA website at www.fngla.org, send an email to info@fngla.org or call 800/375-3642.