FCI December 2014

W W W . F L O R A C U L T U RE . E U

Japan in focus CONGRESS

Horticultural Olympics in Brisbane

CHRISTMAS

Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

Japanese growers caught between modernity, tradition Brought to you by

w w w. k i s a n . c o m

D e c e m b e r 2014

FloraCulture The business magazine for worldwide floriculture

Floraculture International encourages the pursuit of joint activities in areas of mutual interest with national and international societies, companies and organisations.

Agreements have been reached between Floraculture International and leading growers and trade associations in 24 countries. This unique partnership includes a complimentary copy for each member of the registered associations. Floraculture International is proud to announce the cooperation with the following associations.

Partners of FloraCulture International

For more FCI partners see page 40.

Turk覺sh FONT HARR襤NGTON

KwaZulu Natal Flower Grower's Association

Table of Contents

Japan in focus Floral Japan: a rising sun in a bright sky or dipping below a thick layer of cloud cover?

by Ron van der Ploeg

Horticultural Olympics in Brisbane

The sound of a didgeridoo in Portugal in 2010 was an invitation to travel to Australia in 2014 for Horticulture’s 'Olympics'.

by Audrey Gerber

18

IFTF 2014 was the largest edition of the show to date Activity at the 2014 International Floriculture Trade Fair (HaarlemmermeerExpo, Netherlands, November 5-7) far exceeded expectations. This year’s show brought together the best of the best in the flower industry. With over 1,000 companies exhibiting at IFTF, there were plenty of new products for visiting buyers and press.

by Ron van der Ploeg

22

December 2014 Volume 24 Number 12

08 Danziger/ wins Flora Forever Award

Once again the team of FloraCulture International set out to find the best adverts published in its magazine in 2014 by consulting marketing gurus and communication experts throughout the world. This year’s winner is Danziger. The company’s Dynamic Love advertisement has an undeniably strong and pleasing visual impact.

26

by Ron van der Ploeg

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

While preparing gifts and decorating your real Christmas tree, do you sometimes think of the 6 to 8 years of highland cultivation it took to bring it to your home? Focus on the Belgium Ardennes and the French Morvan, two European regions that are home to a sizeable Christmas tree production.

30

by Marie-Françoise Petitjean

Glamour reigns supreme at FloraHolland Trade Fair

Glamour reigned supreme as stylish pot plants and cut flowers dazzled at the FloraHolland Trade Fair (flower auction FloraHolland Aalsmeer, November 5-7).

by Ron van der Ploeg

34

Departments FCI’s international partnerships World News International Events Advertising Index

4 21 28 41

Columns From the editor Certifiable in California Happy Gardening Miami

07 21 29 37

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

5

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In my opinion In my opinion In my opinion In my opinion In my opinion With compliments From editor With the compliments

FloraCulture International (ISSN1051-9076) is published monthly.Worldwide distribution. © 2009 FloraCulture International magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of editorial may FloraCulture is published monthly.Worldwide distribution. be reproducedInternational in any form (ISSN1051-9076) without written permission of the publisher. Publisher is not liable © 2009 FloraCulture International magazine.

All rights reserved.

No portion of editorial may for advertisements using illegally obtained images.

Send address changes to FloraCulture FloraCulture International (ISSN1051-9076) is published monthly.Worldwide distribution. be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher.

Publisher is not liable International magazine, P.O.Box 82, 1850 ABAllHeiloo, theNetherlands. © 2009 FloraCulture International magazine. rights No portion of editorial may by Ron vanQuality, for advertisements using illegally obtained images.

Sendreserved. address changes to FloraCulture FloraCulture International (ISSN1051-9076) is published monthly.Worldwide distribution. der Ploeginnovation, sustainability and logistics are words that be in anyInternational form without written permission of the publisher.

Publisher is not may liable © reproducedmagazine, often appear in our editorial.

Th is isand a compliment you, the International P.O.Box 82, 1850 AB theNetherlands.

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Sendof address changes Publisher to FloraCulture © be reproduced in any form without written permission theofpublisher. is not liable fl oriculture industry; the interviewees and contributors remain 2009 FloraCulture International magazine.

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Th e cut fl ower der Ploeg 3440 AP Woerden, the Netherlands harmony can be found in simple everyday life.

Visit Tokyo’s central shopping Ron van 82, 1850 Circulation Administration: FBW Woerden P.O. Box 612, made a well-timed appearance in Europe.

T (31) 72 53 23 522 F (31) 72 53 23 521 Editors: Anabel Evans (anabel@fl oracultureinternational.com) the pot and bedding plant growers with the spring sunshine having P.O.Box AB Heiloo, the Netherlands explosive fl oriculture growth is being reined back, but in another market is diffi cult, butbackwards a glimpse in of this reliefissue; is being experienced by T (31) 34 84International 31 393 F (31) 34 84 32 552 info@fbw-woerden.nl der Ploeg FloraCulture Working inasEast Africa, Ethiopia’s Dennis business districts such Aoyama orhaving Ginza and enjoy the Woerden, the521 Netherlands Ron van Circulation Administration: FBW Woerden P.O. 313, Box 612, Ron der Ploeg oracultureinternational.com) made a and well-timed appearance inspring Europe.

T (31) 72 53 Business 233440 522van FAP (31) 72ECA 53(ron@fl 23 snippet of news received from David Gray it appears that theneighbourhood pot and bedding plant growers with the sunshine Office 140-21, Legmeerdijk Seriese Anabel Evans (anabel@fl oracultureinternational.com) explosive fl oriculture growth is being reined back, but in another Alwyn Editors:address: der Ploeg Hedd overall quietness and soak up the relaxed atmosphere, even if you find yourself T (31) 34 84 31 393 F (31) 34 84 32 552 info@fbw-woerden.nl Working backwards in this issue; in East Africa, Ethiopia’s 3440 AP Woerden, the Netherlands Dennis Editorial team: Edward Bent, Chris Beytes, Lotte Bjarke, Arturo Croci, Circulation Administration: FBW Woerden P.O. Box 612, logistics in East Africa are receiving a boost.

He writes that Hughes made a well-timed in Europe.

1431 RonGB vanAalsmeer der Ploeg (ron@floracultureinternational.com) snippetappearance of news received from David Graycar it appears that if speaks Seriese in very crowded sidewalks.

There areissue; no honking horns, everybody Editors: Anabel oracultureinternational.com) explosive floriculture growth is being reined back, but in another T (31) 34 84Postbus 31Evans 393 1081, F(anabel@fl (31)1430 34 84 32Aalsmeer 552 info@fbw-woerden.nl Hans De Vries, David Gray, Kerry Herndon, Helen Moody, Working backwards in this in East Africa, Ethiopia’s 3440 AP Woerden, the Netherlands infrastructure, communications and transport are the key Postal address: BB Editorial team: Edward Bent, Chris Beytes, Lotte Bjarke, Arturo Croci, logistics in East Africapleasing are receiving boost.

He writes thattoas ifthe Dennis in hushed tones and the most ofbeing all,aEthiopia’s cell phones don’t ring Japanese Ron van der Ploeg snippet of received fromand Gray itin appears Editors: Evans oracultureinternational.com) Petitjean, Marta Pizano, Leaora Policar, Jennifer White Working Marie-Françoise explosive oriculture growth isDavid reined back, butthat in another T (31) 34 84 T31(31) 393297 F Anabel (31) 34 84(ron@fl 32(anabel@fl 552oracultureinternational.com) info@fbw-woerden.nl development ofcommunications horticulture economies general the news backwards inflnews this issue; in East Africa, Seriese 769 095 Hans De Vries, David Gray, Kerry Herndon, Helen Moody, infrastructure, and transport are the key to the Dennis keep their phones on silent, because ringing cell phones “could be annoying Editorial team: Edward Bent, Chris Beytes, Lotte Bjarke, Arturo Croci, explosive logistics in East Africa arefrom receiving aGray boost.

He writes that ifnew Ron van der Ploeg (ron@fl oracultureinternational.com) Founding editor: Debbie Hamrick snippet of news received David it appears that Editors: Anabel Evans (anabel@fl oracultureinternational.com) of: new roads linking Addis Ababa with Nairobi; a proposed fl oriculture growth is being reined back, but in another Seriese FBW Woerden P.O. Box 612, Circulation Administration: Marie-Françoise Petitjean, Marta Pizano, Leaora Policar, Jennifer White development of horticulture and economies in general the news Claudia Dennis for fellow passengers” according to the on public transport.

Hans De team: Vries, David Gray, HelenBjarke, Moody, infrastructure, communications and are the to Editorial Edward Bent,Kerry ChrisHerndon, Beytes, Lotte Arturo Croci, snippet Cover: Pack Trials logistics in East Africa are receiving atransport boost.

He writes that ifthe Ron van der Ploeg (ron@fl oracultureinternational.com) railway line on the Kenyan Coast from Addis Ababa tokey Lamu; a of news received from David Gray itmessages appears thatTokyo’s Stokreef 3440 APCalifornia Woerden, the Netherlands Seriese Founding editor: Debbie Hamrick of: new roads linking Addis Ababa with Nairobi; amillion proposed new Speaking of public transit, even Tokyo’s metro area with 8 people is a Petitjean, Marta Pizano, Leaora Policar, Jennifer White Marie-Françoise development of horticulture and economies in general the news Claudia Hans De Vries, David Gray, Kerry Herndon, Helen Moody, Publisher: FloraCulture International B.V. infrastructure, communications and transport are the key to the Editorial team: Edward Bent, Chris Beytes, Lotte Bjarke, Arturo Croci, new railway line from Tanzania to Uganda; Delta Airlines about logistics in East Africa are receiving a boost.

He writes that if T (31) 34 84 31 393 E info@fbw-woerden.nl Angie Cover: California Pack Trials railwayin line onmiddle the Kenyan Coast from Addis Ababa to Lamu;waiting a Stokreef private paradise the of the hustle and bustle.

On platforms Founding editor: Debbie Hamrick Duffree of: new roads linking Addis Ababa with Nairobi; a proposed new Petitjean, Marta Pizano, Leaora Policar, Jennifer White Marie-Françoise (jaap@fl oracultureinternational.com) development of horticulture and economies in general the news Hans De Vries, David Gray, Kerry Herndon, Helen Moody, to start direct fl ights between Nairobi and Atlanta; a deal between infrastructure, communications and transport the key to the Editors: Ron van der Ploeg (ron@floracultureinternational.com) Publisher: FloraCulture International B.V. Claudia railway line from Tanzania to are Uganda; Delta Airlines about passengersnew queue andon form neat lines.

Tremendously respectful and polite Cover: Pack railway line the Kenyan Addis Ababa tothe Lamu; a Founding Debbie Hamrick TPetitjean, (31) California 20 editor: 61 82 666 FTrials (31) 20 61 81 333 of: new roads linking Addis Ababa with Nairobi; afor proposed new Stokreef Marta Pizano, Leaora Policar, Jennifer White Marie-Françoise Kenya’s Astral Aviation andCoast Etihad Crystal Cargo Nairobidevelopment of horticulture and economies infrom general the news Editorial Chris Beytes, Lotte Bjarke, Alicja Cecot, (jaap@flteam: oracultureinternational.com) to start direct fl ights between Nairobi and Atlanta; a deal between Claudia people are everywhere and this makes one feel at ease.

Publisher: FloraCulture International B.V. new railway line from Tanzania to Uganda; Delta Airlines about Cover: California Pack Trials Printer: Hollandia Printing, Heerhugowaard railway line on the Kenyan Coast from Addis Ababa to Lamu; a Founding editor: Debbie Hamrick Abu Dhabi route; should all have positive eff ects on the economic of: new roadsKenya’s linkingAstral AddisAviation Ababa with Nairobi; a proposed new Stokreef Audrey Gerber, Aldo Colombo, Arturo Croci, T (31) 20 61 82 666 F (31) 20 61 81 333 and Etihad Crystal Cargo for the NairobiClaudia ArturoCalifornia (jaap@fl oracultureinternational.com) to start directline flCoast ights between Nairobi and Atlanta; a deal between Publisher: FloraCulture International B.V. Designer: Hollandia Media Productions new railway from Tanzania to Uganda; Delta Airlines about Cover: Pack Trials development of East Africa in the medium to long term. railway line on the Kenyan from Addis Ababa to Lamu; a Stokreef Marie-Françoise Petitjean, John Sutton and Jennifer Zurko.

Croci Printer: Hollandia Printing, Heerhugowaard Abu Dhabi route; should all have positive effects on the economic I was in Japan because the organisers ofNairobi IFEX invited me tofor over and T (31) 20 61Bas 82 Kohler 666 F B.V. (31) 20 61 81 333 Kenya’s Astral and Etihad Crystal Cargo the Nairobi(jaap@fl oracultureinternational.com) Cartoonist: to start direct flAviation ights between and Atlanta; acome deal between Publisher: International Arturo FloraCulture new railway line from Tanzania to Uganda; Delta Airlines about Founding editor: Debbie Hamrick Designer: Hollandia Media Productions development of East Africa in the medium to exhibition’. long term. Attendance Croci visit what is dubbed ‘Asia’s largest horticultural trade Printer: Hollandia Printing, Heerhugowaard Abu Dhabi route; shouldand all have positive effCargo ects onfor the economic T (31) 20FloraCulture 61 82 666 FInternational (31) 20 61 81 333 Kenya’s Astral Aviation Etihad Crystal the Nairobi(jaap@floracultureinternational.com) In Taiwan, the presidential opening of the International Orchid to start direct fl ights between Nairobi and Atlanta; a deal between Publisher: Cartoonist: Bas Kohler Arturo and exhibitor numbers up slightly atpositive the 2014 show as compared Designer: Hollandia Productions development ofwere East Africa the medium toIFEX long term.

Hollandia Abu Dhabi route; should allinhave eff ects on the takes economic TCroci (31) 20 61 (jaap@floracultureinternational.com) 82Printer: 666 F (31) 20 61 Printing, 81Media 333 Heerhugowaard Show is an indication inCrystal itself about the pride the nation in Kenya’s Astral and Etihad Cargo for the NairobiIn Aviation Taiwan, the presidential opening of the International Arturo to Dhabi 2013. route; It’s a positive indicator that despite dismal forecasts of Orchid a exports. dramatically Cartoonist: Bas Kohler Designer: Hollandia Media Productions Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacifi c development of East Africa in the medium to long term.

Printer: Hollandia Printing, Heerhugowaard its orchid innovations, in particular for their phalaenopsis Abu should all have positive eff ects on the economic Printer: SDA Print+Media Croci is an indication in itself about theshrinking pride the nation takes in decreasingShow and ageing grower population and the Lotte Arturo Inof Taiwan, the presidential opening of the International Orchid Cartoonist: Bas Kohler International Accounts Management: Designer: Media Productions Th Breeder Open Days the Netherlands themarket, number oneJapanese in development East Africa in the medium to long term.

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Page 8 to 17.

Show is an indication in itself about the pride the nation takes in Dennis Seriese (dennis@fl oracultureinternational.com) In Taiwan, the presidential opening of the International Orchid Cartoonist: Bas Kohler cut fl owers were, conversely, very low key; quality is the renowned Lotte Copy correction and sub-editing: Vanessa Heinrich International Accounts Management: The Breeder Open Days in the Netherlands for the number one in Bjarke Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacifi c its presidential orchid particular for phalaenopsis exports.

Angie Duff ree (angie@fl oracultureinternational.com) Show ispoint, aninnovations, indication inin about thetheir pride the nation takes in selling however, especially for Dutch rose In Taiwan, the opening ofitself thevery International Orchid Cover photograph: Junichi Takahashi, Dennis Seriese (dennis@fl oracultureinternational.com) cut flowers were, conversely, lowthose key; quality is thegrowers renowned Lotte Back from there was a busy week ahead in the Netherlands where International Accounts Management: ThJapan eorchid Breeder Open Days in the Netherlands for theinnumber one in the Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacifi T(31)20 61 82Ashiro 666 FGrowers.

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40,000 industry professionals from all corners of the world.

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Th e RHP Foundation is guiding the “will to improve” ofthe cut flowers were, conversely, veryoverwhelming low key; quality is the renowned Marta Piza- Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacific (claudia@fl oracultureinternational.com) is also crisis, the message of our substrates gloom of Quality the economic which resulted incurrent a growers buoyant atmosphere, an node Marquez Offi Manager: Claudia Stokreef T(31)20 61 666 F (31)20 61 333 M(31) 62 21 65 220 P.O.ce Box 82,82 1850 AB Heiloo, the81Netherlands whose existence is being threatened by economic conditions.

Angie DuffreeInternational (angie@fl oracultureinternational.com) 50 affi liated companies.

And where substrates control of growth selling point, however, especially for those Dutch rose Accounts Management: FloraCulture International B.V. special.

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LB Text & Idé, Søndervej 10, 8350 Hundslund, 48 75 30 resulting from using this tool.

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T (81) 33 32 75 756 F (81) 33 32 27 933 are another institution that have a long history in EMS Inc., 2-22-8 Matsubara, Setagaya-ku,Tokyo 156-0043, Japan Anabel Evans, Editor California Pack Trials, which, like the auctions, Yoshikawa Policar T (27) 22 4857058 F (27) 22 4857415 FloraCulture International (ISSN1051-9076) is published monthly.

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8

Japan One can’t help feeling infinite respect for Japan’s traditional, quickly ageing grower population, who dedicate their lives to producing flowers and plants with every imaginable attention to detail. But outside their small-sized greenhouse there is a harsh new reality ruled by economies of scale, standardised products and manufacturing at the lowest possible cost. Floral Japan: a rising sun in a bright sky or dipping below a thick layer of cloud cover?

by Ron van der Ploeg

Japanese growers caught between modernity, tradition

I

f you want to understand something about Japanese floriculture start with an early morning visit to the Rikugien Gardens, in a quiet residential area of northern Tokyo. Built around 1700 for the 5th Tokugawa Shogun, Rikugien translates into English as ‘six poems garden", and reproduces in miniature 88 scenes from famous poems. It is a prime example of an Edo Period strolling garden and features a large central pond surrounded by manmade hills and forested areas. Soak up the tranquil atmosphere and stop to admire the gardeners’ meticulous needle plucking to keep pine trees welltrained. Fingers are used to remove

Quick facts Japan lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent. An archipelago, Japan consists of four main islands—Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, and Shikoku—as well as 3,900 smaller islands.

Total land area: 145,825 square miles (377,688 Tokyo is Japan's capital and largest city. square kilometers).

Of all the world's major nations, the Japanese have the highest population density per square mile of habitable land. Japan has virtually no natural resources except those found in the sea. To Japan's north, the nearest foreign soil is the Russian-controlled island of Sakhalin while the People's Republic of China and South Korea lie to the west of Japan. Japan has a population of approximately 124 million people. By the standards of other nations, the Japanese are one of the most homogeneous people on earth. Under two million foreigners (less than one percent of the total Japanese population) live in Japan. Tokyo is Japan's capital and largest city. The national flag of Japan is a crimson disc, symbolizing the rising sun, in the center of a white field.

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

old needles one by one, in order to give light and air to the inner branches and induce new buds. It takes one month to prune one tree.

Reverence for nature

Practically the same reverence for nature at Rikugien Gardens can be found among much of the close to 63,500 ornamental plant and flower growers (Source: OTA Floriculture Research Institute), scattered across an extremely mountainous country (almost three quarters of the population lives on only one-sixth of the total land area) that is slightly larger than the United Kingdom.

Rather than focusing on producing mass quantities of a standard product, these family run businesses deliver an uncompromising level of quality that is achieved through an obsessive level of attention to detail.

“Our company has over 20 years of experience in Japan’s cyclamen market. In keeping with centuriesold tradition, Japanese growers

opt for quality before quantity.

Plants are individually selected to the customer’s specifications, and their ultimate size and form are carefully considered. But we have seen a slow but secure shift in the industry over the past few years with an increasing number of growers questioning themselves whether spending hours with every product is rewarding enough for the future, and switching from the big specimen cyclamen to, for example, miniature cyclamen,” said Paul-Henri Morel, technical and production director of French cyclamen breeder Morel. The company has been breeding and growing cyclamen for more than 50 years and exhibited for the 11th year in a row at Japan’s leading flower trade exhibition IFEX (page 16), which this year was held from October 15 to 17, 2014 at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo.

Transition

Morel’s story perfectly illustrates how the Japanese flower industry

Abenomics

finds itself in a chaotic transition period into a new age defined by global competition, rampant change, faster flow of information and communication, increasing business complexity and globalisation. As a result, Japan’s ornamental horticulture industry must move from an essentially artisanal production technology to a more large scale and modern one that is replicated in many industries.

Traditionally, flower auctions occupy a unique and dominant place in Japanese flower trade.

In 2013, the Floral Wholesale Market Association (defending the interests of flower auctions) had 124 members and a few dozen more non-members.

Executive manager Mr Ryoji Kato of Japan’s largest auction with an annual turnover of 26 billion JPY (€192 million) in 2013, doesn’t want to sound disrespectful or belittling. He admires the small grower’s tireless devotion, wonderful energy and top quality products but also thinks that traditional attitudes should go hand in hand with more modern ambitions. “The Japan flower business became a declining market in 2000 and has maintained a downward trend from its peak in 1999. There is no clear sign that the downtrend has finished. One of the reasons might be that the industry as a whole finds it difficult to adapt to a changing world with

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic programm, known as ‘Abenomics’, is all about building consumer confidence.

If only the Japanese had more faith in their country’s prospects, Abe’s theory stipulates, then consumers would spend more and companies would do more investing and hiring. To restore confidence, Abe has presented One of the Abenomics arrows is the a program of what he dubs Growth Strategy, including strengthening of Japan’s agriculture. “three arrows” including a monetary regime shift, fiscal stimulus measures and structural reforms.

Part of Abe’s growth plan is help for family-run businesses with ageing owners and no successor. The latest data of the Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. reveal that on a population of approximately 127 million people Japan has almost one million small businesses with 10 or fewer employees. At flower and plant grower level, people in their sixties and seventies make up the biggest proportion of the self-employed. Sector-wide, a record 28,943 small- to mid-sized companies went out of business last year.

Commenting on Mr Abe's grand plan to force Japan's economy out of deflation and serial recession, Aucnet sales representative, Mr Yusuke Watanabe said, “For ordinary citizens, Abenomics seems to work well for the prices at the stock exchange market.

However, the cheap yen causes the prices for oil and raw materials to rise. And that's somehow badly affecting the growers of flowers and plants who are facing higher energy costs.”

To date, the consumer’s willingness to spend could be better.

“If Abe’s three arrows will work, consumer confidence will increase, and ornamental flowers and plants will benefit, of course. One of the Abenomics arrows is the Growth Strategy, including strengthening of Japan’s agriculture. If we are able to use this opportunity in the right way, this will be a good help too,” concluded Watanabe.

modern lifestyles. For many years, there has been a stable demand for ceremonial Buddhism flowers, to everyone’s satisfaction. We might have been very late in detecting the first signs of stagnation,” said Kato who was so tremendously polite and kind enough to take FCI through OTA’s vast expanse of Dutch style auction buildings one Thursday morning .

He was quick to add that a sizeable number of entrepreneurs refused to sit back and do nothing.

Take, for example, the state-ofthe-art greenhouse structures in Oita prefecture, home to the 3ha rose nursery Marchen Rose, while Yamaguchi and Yamagata prefectures host the 2.7ha Yanai Diamond Rose nursery and the 2.6ha Kumagaya Engei rose nursery respectively. All three farms are dynamic businesses that are able to anticipate and embrace change while sustaining competitive advantage.

Aucnet

In Japan, flower farms have the average size of a mere 0.2ha, but it would be a great mistake to think that everything is done on a bonsai scale.

A visit to Kita-Aoyama, the south part (Kita=south in Japanese) of Tokyo’s central shopping neighbourhood and business district, helps to put things into perspective. At the contemporary Aoyama OM Square skyscraper

>>>

To date, the consumer’s willingness to spend could be better.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

9

10

Japan building, which is home to Japan’s sole online flower auction (truth be told, according to the criteria set by the Japanese Flower Auction association, Auncet is officially not a flower auction) one can feel the pulse of business all around. From the innovative bidding system for used cars and motorcycles, to the digital sales of medical devices and used mobile phones, to the fast-moving real time offers for cut flowers and pot plants, this is the big world of business. And Aucnet is at the heart of it.

Treating FCI to a classic Japanese lunch of tonkatsu (grilled pork

cutlet served with shredded cabbage, rice and hot mustard) in a nice little, shoes-off-and-sit crosslegged-at-sunken-table restaurant, Aucnet’s sales representative, Mr Yusuke Watanabe, explained that his company was one of the first to introduce a satellite-connected auction for used cars in June 1985, long before the internet exploded onto the mainstream consciousness.

As little as one year after Aucnet’s official launch, the company’s revolutionary ideas won a prestigious award in a contest run by the newspaper Nikkei Ryutsu Shinbun. In December 1997,

Aucnet auctioned online the first volumes of flowers, using its own bespoke software.

Online sales of cut flowers have been growing steadily for Aucnet over the past few years. In 2005, the company celebrated its 1000th online flower auction, with sales volumes rising to 14,000 boxes per day.

In 2007, Aucnet added its electronic pot plant auction to its already extensive portfolio of services, including market research, marketing and promotion, shipment registration and customer and sales management. “Today, Aucnet flower auctions run on Sunday, Tuesday

Floral wholesale in 2013 Having no official consumption data, OTA executive officer, Mr Ryoji Kato presented the closest to reliable OTA Floriculture Research Institute figures as estimates.

In 2013, Japanese consumption of floriculture crops reached 850-900 billion JPY (retail). According to a 2013 household budget survey conducted by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, a household with more than two persons spent 9,408 JPY ($96/€72) for cut flowers and 8,478 JPY for pot plants (($86/€65).

This included gardening material.

According to the Japan Flower Association (JFTA), the quantity of imported stems (cut flowers and cut foliage combined) declined by 3.6%, the tonnage declined by 1.6%, while the value as per

customs declarations increased by 8.3%. The increase in value can be attributed to higher purchase prices which were the result of the yen’s depreciated exchange rate.

About 80% of Japan’s flower supply, in value terms, was grown domestically in 2013.

In quantity, China is the largest source of Japan’s cut flower imports, and this has everything to do with the large volumes of imported camellia leaf.

In value, Malaysia ranks number one (second in quantity), which is not surprising given the relatively high-priced Malaysian orchids.

The role of the Japanese auctions is clearly changing. They are increasingly becoming a wholesale platform with logistics and finance facilities (Photo credits: Ryoji Kato).

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Colombia is the third-largest import source followed by South Korea, Taiwan (ROC) and Thailand.

Assessing the quality of imported flowers, flower arranger Kazuyo Asayama said,” Malaysia is good, both in terms of quality and quantity. The quality from China is not stable with sudden dips in production. But they are improving. Carnation and rose are the prime products from Colombia with really good quality and in big quantities. A recent bestseller are Colombian grown Hydrangea. It’s a different quality compared to the Netherlands, but the price is reasonable, making them rapidly popular. The quality from Ecuador is good, but their roses are too big.”

In 2013, Japan’s top cut flower crops

(imports and domestics combined) were chrysanthemums (1,263 million stems), carnations (369 million stems), roses (228 million stems), gerbera (116 million stems), lilies (112 million stems) and statice (101 million stems). There are no newcomers in the top crops list.

Worldwide the most common response from local growers to cheaper imports is to shift to specialty products. When asked about the pressure from cheaper import-dominated flowers such as roses, carnations and mums, JFTA spokesman Robert Wetzel said, “In Japan, the pressure on domestic production is mostly based on eroding sales prices -caused by a decline in population and demand - and the ageing process

Orchids are imported from Malaysia and Taiwan.

For many years, there has been a stable demand for ceremonial Buddhism flowers, to everyone’s satisfaction.

in the farming population. Imports have only partly filled the void created by the decline in local production.”

A current trend on the global flower market is eliminating the intermediaries, the wholesalers between the growers and the retailers, so that flowers are accessible at very low prices to the consumers. We asked Wetzler how all this affect his own business. He said, “The role of the auctions is clearly changing. They are becoming more and more a wholesale platform with logistics and finance facilities. The percentage of traditional clock sales is decreasing every year, with some auctions only selling 1/4 of all products on the clock.”

and Friday, while pot plants are sold on Monday and Friday. At our auctions 1900 growers from across Japan bring in a wide variety of products, including over 1,700 different species. We take pride in prioritising quality over quantity and work directly with Japanese growers we have known for years.

Their flowers account for 60% of our sales volumes, while the remaining flowers are imported from countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Korea, Kenya, Colombia, the Netherlands and New Zealand,“ outlined Watanabe.

The bulk of Aucnet’s flowers and plants goes to retail florists who can attend any auction from the comfort of their own home or shop. They view Aucnet’s available inventory online and buy their necessary products, confident of receiving their purchases the next day via overnight delivery.

Aucnet’s strength is being part of a wave of e-commerce companies that bypass the middlemen, bringing demand and supply closer together than ever.

As e-commerce could take a 40 per cent share of overall trade volumes in developed countries by 2025, Aucnet is set to increase market share in the coming years. Its sales accounted for 7.3 billion JPY in 2013, equating to approximately €51.6 million. (In April this year FCI ranked Aucnet nr 8 in its annual Ranking the Flower Auctions 2014 charts).

In terms of sales volumes, the company’s 2012 statistics mention 118, 678, 063 stems traded, with chrysanthemum proving the top selling product. Mr Watanabe said that export sales within Asia are going strong, adding that the company’s revenues are not only generated from flower sales but also from the marketing and sales of its online bidding system.

Industrial in contrast to the artisanal model Pictured is Otani president Albert Wetzler in the JFTA stand at IFEX.

One of the key components in Japan’s floral supply chain is Japan’s Agricultural Cooperatives group, (JA), which serves the interests of the nation’s small-scale farmers.

Surface area ornamental plant production FLOWERS 1 Chrysanthemum 2 Lilium 3 Gentiana 4 Eustoma 5 Rose Total cut flowers: PLANTS 1 flowering houseplants 2 Foliage plants 3 Orchids Total Pot plants:

5,096 ha, 789 ha 452 ha 431 ha 395 ha 15,380 ha

426 ha 323 ha 219 ha 1,796 ha

Executive manager Mr Ryoji Kato of Japan’s largest auction OTA.

“The JA is a gigantic organisation of around 700 cooperatives, which aims at helping small-scale farmers.

Each of the around 500 JA flower cooperatives collect the flowers from their different members, organise combined transport to our Chiba-based warehouses and sell their products as one organisation.

They also set the grade standards, despite cooperatives in different areas working with different criteria. Growers receive payment information quickly and are usually paid twice a month. When selling directly to the market, the grower is usually paid once a month (Aucnet pays every 15 days). However, there is a trend of large enterprise farmers selling on their own,” said Watanabe.

>>>

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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12

Japan Ambitious goals Japan has set itself an ambitious goal: to more than double its flower exports from 8.6 billion JPY in 2013 to 15 billion JPY in 2020. We asked industry professionals about Japan’s export potential and the main challenges to be overcome.

Mr Ryoji Kato from flower auction OTA believes the double-in-size strategy is a very challenging one.

“The largest part of export, bonsai trees, start to show depletion, with difficulties to achieve the same growth rates during the export boom. Regarding cut flowers, we need more innovation in the field of logistics. Japanese cut flowers destined for exports are rather luxurious products. International customers don’t allow any deterioration like spots and wounds on such luxurious goods. The handling of these delicate export flowers is still very difficult at this moment.”

Aucnet’s Yusuke Watanabe feels the one important thing is the exchange of information. “There is no doubt that Japan grows specialty flowers are of outstanding quality. But the pertinent question is whether this is known enough. If more people would know about Japanese flowers, our internet system would be also more effective.”

Robert Wetzler of Otani sees several major issues that hinder making exports profitable.

The problems he cites are the high production costs, the expensive outbound freight rates, the strict enforcement of plant quarantine requirements in major export markets and the lack of large export volumes due to the small-sized character of the flower farms.

Flower arranger Kazuyo Asayama shares these thoughts, “It is a very difficult issue, as for exporting flowers you need large volumes. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese growers continues to decrease each year for a variety a reasons: high energy costs, no successors and many natural disasters. I really don’t see who could grow flowers for export. I am equally worried about our local production with almost every rose grower struggling to achieve profitability. Chrysanthemum growers are also under pressure.”

Japanese cut flowers destined for exports are rather luxurious products.

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Aucnet’s sales representative, Mr Yusuke Watanabe.

Although the JA originally was an ordinary cooperative set up to sell products produced by its remote farmers and provide production materials and agricultural chemicals to its member farming households, it’s now time to revisit the issue. Today’s JA is basically a gigantic trading house employing 224,000 staff, on par with the Japan Post group companies. The JA has five million predominantly smallscale farmers as full members and another 5 million local community residents as associate members (that’s a lot of voting power!). The group is believed to have a total of 4.4 billion JPY in net profit.

Japan’s biggest newspaper, the Yomiuri Schinbun, reported in January 2011 that the outstanding balance of the JA group's financial businesses at that time had reached 82 trillion yen. The JA life and nonlife insurance policy contracts are believed to be worth 330 trillion yen, among the largest of the world's insurance services. The JA group's marketing of farm goods and other products totals about 4.3 trillion yen a year, and it purchases fertiliser, agricultural chemicals and other items worth 3.3 trillion yen. In every corner of the country, the JA network offers financing services for members' businesses and housing loans, as well as shipment of farm produce. It provides farming households with a range of

commodities (Source: Yomiuri Schinbun).

Business consortium

Also doing things at the grand scale is the relatively new Roses Forever Japan business consortium, which has been created through the co-operation of four individual greenhouse growers who all share the common goal of creating synergy while serving the Japanese market with high end miniature roses from Danish rose breeder, Rosa Eskelund.

They include Hanano Umi near Hiroshima, Central Roses in Gifu near Nagoya, Takeichi in Saitama north west of Tokyo and Hakusan/ Toyota Floritech co. Ltd. All together they grow two million pot roses per year.

Instead of solo advertising, the Roses Forever Japan group conducts a joint promotion of its products on www.rosesforever.jp to advance their primary advertising goal: increasing brand awareness.

Hakusan managing director Mr Teruo Takatomi and Hakusan marketing manager Masahi Fujiwara explained that the partners’ keys to success are a common market, premium quality, shared values and non-competing products. “Hakusan and Toyota Floritech for example differentiate themselves in the marketplace by growing in the small 6 and 9cm pots, while the other partners produce in 12cm pots or bigger.”

Takatomi added he has had a soft spot for Denmark since 1980, when he spent six months in the Nordic

country visiting a cross section of Danish horticulture companies including GASA. “Denmark is known for its longstanding tradition in pot plant production and I was really impressed by their efficiency and automation level. My dream was to reach the same level of professionalism or even surpass them,” jokingly told Takatomi.

Now, 34 years later, his dream has become reality with Takatomi being at the helm of one of the country’s most ultra-modern pot plant businesses including the 2ha Aomori-based Toyota Floritech co. Ltd. greenhouses (a 50/50 joint venture of the Hakusan Group and Toyota Motor Corporation involving a 800 million JPY/€6 million/$8 million ) investment in 1999). Facilities include a rolling bench system, automatic pruning shears, artificial lighting and heating by natural gas. “Growing

conditions and techniques have much in common with our fellow pot rose growers in the Netherlands and Denmark, although Aomori at Honshu’s northern tip experiences harsh winters. Our greenhouses were designed to withstand heavy snowloads,” said Takatomi, who sees huge potential in the extremely large flowered Roses Forever, combining vibrant colours and excellent shelf life.

“Roses Forever caused quite a stir when they were first introduced in Japan in the 1990s. The plants not only featured extremely big blooms with many thick petals but also gave pot roses a dramatically 2 week longer shelf life. With a still limited supply of pot roses and a population of 125 million people, there is a blooming future ahead,” enthused Takatomi. >>>

In Japan, flower farms have the average size of a mere 0.2ha, but it would be a great mistake to think that everything is done on a bonsai scale.

Promoting the country’s flower industry Today, floral Japan’s biggest headache is that since 2000 fewer people of all ages are buying flowers.

OTA executive manager Ryoji Kato forecasts a sharp decline in demand in the next 10 to 20 years, all this based on the demographics of Japan. The graphic shows the annual per 2+household spending on flowers based on the statistics of Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The vertical line indicates the amount of money in yen, while the horizontal one shows the various generations, with the total average featured at the most left hand. The green bar shows data of the year

2010, yellow 2009, red 2006, blue 2003 and white 2000.

To turn the tide, the Japan Flower Marketing Organisation launched a Valentine’s Day campaign four years ago. The campaign has received a positive response and Japanese men are slowly getting used to offering their loved ones flowers on February 14th. Differing from many other countries in the world, in Japan women traditionally give chocolates and gifts on Valentine’s Day and men return the favour on ‘White

In their stand the Japanese Flower Council provides visitors information on their Valentine’s Day campaign.

Day’ – on 14th March. Therefore it had been rare for men to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Japan. 2014 marked a special year for the Japanese flower industry when the flower promotion act was officially signed, making 500 million JPY available for the promotion of flowers.

OTA executive manager Ryoji Kato explained that the fund is

allocated to each prefectural administrative office in Japan.

The usage of the fund is limited as the money must be used either to promote locally-grown flowers or to attract young people into a career in horticulture. Last but not least, the funds may also be used for projects benefitting the export strategy of locally-grown flowers.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Japan A taste for the sophisticated

Speaking of roses, according to the Japan Cut Rose Association, Nichibara, Japan currently has 1000 rose producers (800 registered and 200 unregistered combined) who grew a wide variety of cut roses on an estimated area of 395ha (Source: Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery) in 2013.

According to Ryoji Kato from flower auction OTA (81% of the roses traded at OTA are domestically grown), the production area in Japan has fallen in the last 10 years by about 3 per cent each year.

The New Plant Area at the IFEX show, including the winners of the Japan Flower of the Year contest, provides the opportunity to gain insight into the roe preferences of the Japanese.

Judging by one of the winners, (Rosa ‘La Campanella’ bred by NZ rose breeder Franko Roses), Japanese rose buyers have a taste for the sophisticated and unusual.

Kato commented: “Generally speaking, we don’t like vivid colours contrary to the Chinese or other Asian people. Pink/pale pink is the most popular colour associated with roses. There is, of course, a market for the more mainstream roses, but there is definitely a preference for specimen roses featuring for example, ruffled or cup-shaped petals or a strong fragrance.”

Flower arranger Kazuyo Asayama adds that despite the clear preference for ‘petite’, ‘soft’ and ‘delicate’ features, Japanese consumers also highly appreciate the giant blooms of Avalanche+ and Samourai with heavy petal count, as well as nostalgic English garden-like roses. “I am currently a representative of David Austin Roses in Japan and so far Austin roses can be found at two Japanese growers. But there’s a lot of potential interest,” said Asayama.

When asking her about the current state of Japanese rose breeding she said that the country has countless private breeders creating many attractive varieties. “But new roses

Roses Forever caused quite a stir when they were first introduced in Japan in the 1990s.

are not always thoroughly tested and evaluated and shelf life and productivity are not standard criteria to double check. This explains why growers use garden roses for cut flower production.

Personally, I don’t think this helps to strengthen the rose profession in Japan. As for La Campanella rose, this is probably the most famous variety of Franko Roses in Japan.

Some growers have tested it in Colombia. ‘La Campanella’ is now also grown in Ecuador, but it is quite challenging to compete with the shape of the Japanese grown ‘La Campanella’. I reckon this speciality rose is now only available in Japan and Ecuador at this moment.” |||

Japanese influence is at its greatest in the breeding sector Japanese influence is at its greatest in the breeding sector, with big names such as Sakata, Suntory and Takii having shaped the market and the evolution of bedding plants cut flowers and vegetables. At this year’s Ifex Takii’s flower sales representative Shohei Murakami presented the company’s latest breeding breakthrough: resistance to downy mildew in cut-Helianthus.

Downy Mildew (DM) is by far the largest problem in ornamental sunflower production. With the ability to wipe out large portions of sunflower crops, growers know that downy mildew is one of the most devastating diseases to strike sunflower production. A soil borne pathogen that travels via water with ‘swimming’ spores, Downy mildew can be costly for growers. Besides monitoring and pro-actively employing the right chemical management practices growers have from now onwards access to highly resistant seed on commercial scale.

In December 2009, The Wageningen UR, section of Applied Plant

Research in Lisse, confirmed that Takii’s new variety Sunrich Orange had a high resistance to downy mildew. To examine the resistance a bioassay was carried out. The bioassay was performed according to the standard procedure which Applied Plant Research developed together with Tom Gulya from USDA-ARS Northern Crop Science Laboratory (Fargo, ND Idaho USA).

It appeared that under laboratory conditions none of the seedlings of this new variety were susceptible to DM. The control, a commercial variety which was used as comparison, showed that up to 72% of the seedlings were affected by Downy Mildew

Takii’s flower sales representative Shohei Murakami.

Sunrich Orange DMR F1 is resistant to multiple races of Downy Mildew (Plasmopara halstedii). The DMR (Downy Mildew Resistant) breakthrough added value provides substantial benefits for cut flower production with high yield results and reduction of chemical use.

The plant height, growing speed and the flower shape and colour of Sunrich Orange DMR F1 is

similar to the existing and market leading variety Sunrich Orange F1. The flowers are pollen free, and hold long lasting, dense petals on sturdy stems. The variety flowers in 65-85 days after sowing, depending on growing conditions. Suitable for Spring to Summer cultivation with growing and sowing under long-day conditions.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Japan Attendance and exhibitor numbers were up slightly at IFEX trade show 2014 as compared to 2013 (see box). It’s a positive indicator that despite dismal forecasts of a dramatically decreasing grower population and shrinking market, the Japanese flower industry continues to stand relatively strong.

IFEX reports successful eleventh edition

I

FEX department manager of international sales and marketing, Mr Satoshi Watanabe put the numbers into perspective.

“The IFEX show featured 561 plus exhibitors, about six percent more than the tally in 2013, but the representation of international companies could have been stronger.

Certainly the weakening yen and high travel expenses had a hand in the slight decline of international exhibitors, but overall we can look back on a very successful show," said Watanabe who added that the quality of attendees represented a significant step forward for the 2014 IFEX event.

Fundamentally optimistic

by Ron van der Ploeg

This year’s show featured a wide range of products, from cut flowers to house plants, through nursery stock and bulbs to greenhouses, machinery and crop protection products. However, true to its tradition, IFEX remains a very cut flower focused show with booths showcasing an exhaustive range of

The Flora Co Ltd. team enjoyed meeting a lot of our customers. Pictured left to right are Mr. Yoshiyasu Kawase, Mr. Seiji Nakamura and Mr. Hirokazu Murase.

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

IFEX department manager of international sales and marketing, Mr Satoshi Watanabe and his colleague Ms Yumi Nozkai from IFEX’ International Sales & Marketing Division.

floristry supplies, dried and preserved flowers and packaging.

Taiwan and Indonesia were present through country pavilions, while Mr Watanabe has every reason to believe that the dominant flower producers from Latin America will return to next year’s IFEX, especially now that the ambassador of Ecuador to Japan, Mr Leonardo Carrión Eguiguren was one of the dignitaries attending IFEX‘s official opening ceremony. “No decisions have yet been made on Ecuador or Colombia’s presence at next year’s IFEX, but I can confirm discussions have taken place on the matter.”

Watanabe says he’s ‘fundamentally optimistic’ about the nation’s economy, expressing confidence that Japan will pull itself out of its economic malaise now that the country is preparing itself to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. “Tokyo 2020 will bring a tourist boom and extra public spending. Property values will go up along with an increase in construction activities. New houses and offices mean new gardens and home décor.”

Wonderful feedback

Watanebe’s faith in the future is perfectly in line with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic programme -- known as ‘Abenomics’ which is all about building consumer confidence (page 9).

Also showing confidence in business at IFEX was owner and overseas section leader Mr Yoshiyasu Kawase of Flora Co Ltd. a specialist supplier of plant vitalising products.

Kawase has been present at each of the 11 IFEX shows so far. “We enjoyed meeting a lot of our customers, from end-users, to people from DIY stores, from garden retailers to wholesale dealer and trading firms.

We come into contact with clients on a daily basis, but to meet them in person just makes that 'bond' stronger. We had plenty of opportunity to meet international sales reps from countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea, India and Russia.”

Mr Kawase has participated in every IFEX show so far, and sees an increase in farmers and garden retailers compared to 4 years ago.

“Although it seems that IFEX visitor and exhibitor numbers are on the up, my impression was also that

More than 200 Japanese growers were on hand to display their MPS certified produce ranging from lisianthus, Gypsophila, gerberas, roses, strelitzia, carnations and sun flowers.

there were fewer international exhibitors present. However, overall, the total number of exhibitors keeps rising because more categories are added.”

Flora Co did succeed in establishing the right business contacts. “We pride ourselves on having already more than 5,000 dealers in the domestic market and IFEX enabled us to strengthen these contacts.

Meanwhile we were approached by buyers from China and India and we are looking forward to establishing a long term relationship with them. Overall, we received wonderful feedback from our customers saying that HB-101 works really well!!”

Different sounds

At the side of the Japan Flower Trade Association (JFTA), the eight members (Classic, Eternal,

Visit the last day of IFEX and watch the Halloween monsterly multitudes quickly filling in the Makuhari Messe at the end of the afternoon.

rather depressing scenario helped the members of the JFTA (Japan Flower Trade Association) realise that we need to work together to change the industry. It has brought the exhibiting members (Classic, YMS and Otani) as well as non-exhibiting members closer together.”

Long time IFEX attendee and floral promotor Kazuyo Asayama said she was present at all eleven editions so far. Much to her regret the show is increasingly becoming a somewhat ‘boring affair’, where she dearly misses the excitement, buzz and upbeat mood of the first three years. “At that time, I was responsible for the decoration of the Florimex Japan booth and many breeding companies and importers were exhibiting. Today, the fair represents more the central meeting for the Japanese flower industry as a whole.” |||

Seika Sangyo, Tamee’s, D-Market, Otani, Sui Konhengei and YMS Co.) seemed less enthusiastic.

“As expected, the number of visitors related to the cut flower trade was quite disappointing.

The show’s focus has been continuously shifting away from cut flowers towards other flower related products over the past few years.

This trend has continued this year.

As a result, many overseas growers/ exporters who have been coming to the show in the past stayed away.

Japanese flower traders such as auctions and wholesalers, mostly stayed away too. There were some interesting visitors from countries which currently do not export to Japan though,” commented JFTA spokesman and Otani managing director Robert Wetzler.

JFTA, however, ended the IFEX show on a positive note. “This

This table shows that exhibitor numbers of the 2014 IFEX show were slightly up.

The IFEX ribbon-cutting ceremony witnessed the participation from 53 high profile dignitaries.

The Number of Exhibitors 2013 Domestic

Sum

Domestic

Int'l

Sum

IFEX

474

52

526

534

27

561

GARDEX

169

61

230

153

84

237

AGRI WORLD

265

40

305

382

74

456

- AGRITECH JAPAN

-

-

-

157

67

224

- AGRI NEXT

-

-

-

225

7

232

TOOL JAPAN Total

2014

Int'l

120

48

168

137

33

170

1028

201

1229

1206

218

1424

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Congress The sound of a didgeridoo in Portugal in 2010 was an invitation to travel to Australia in 2014 for Horticulture’s ‘Olympics’.

Horticultural Olympics in Brisbane S

cientists from more than 100 countries gathered in August in Brisbane, Australia, for the 29th International Horticultural Congress. Known as the “Olympics of Horticulture”, the congress is held every four years to present the latest research findings and promote cross-discipline collaboration and interaction. Following on from the success in Portugal in 2010, Brisbane held 43 symposia, with 1,200 presentations in 20 concurrent sessions engaging and informing horticultural industries.

Powerful messages of horticulture’s role in the health and well-being of people and the planet emerged from the 156 keynote addresses.

Horticultural innovations on show

by Audrey Gerber

While the numbers are impressive, and indicate the respect of the scientific community for the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), how does this relate to commercial horticultural industries? Attending the conference was an opportunity for

Dr Robyn McConchie invites delegates to return to Australia for the New Ornamentals and Protea Research symposia in Perth in August 2015

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Colourful Australian wildflowers welcomed delegates to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (Anigozanthos spp and Xerochrysum spp)

horticultural managers and product developers to interact with colleagues, funding bodies and research scientists as well as find out about the latest horticultural innovations at the trade show, which was rather strategically held in the large exhibition hall that also served as the lunch and tea venue.

Lodi Pameijer, president of FAQI (Flower Association of Queensland), and owner and manager of Top of the Range Flowers, found the trade show at the conference of great value to his Australian wildflower business. Discussions with representatives of BOC, one of more than 50 exhibitors,

have lead to pilot trials of a new post-harvest fumigation product to test phytotoxicity on Australian cutflowers. “This is a great opportunity for the flower and foliage industry,” said Lodi. “The new product is potentially superior to currently used products as it is less hazardous to the operator and environment and has lower disposal costs, but we need to test it on a range of flowers.”

These preliminary trials, with fumigation product and equipment made available by BOC and flower product donated by Lodi and other local growers, enables response and dosage data to be collected to support commercial release.

Framed by blue water and blue sky, the Brisbane Convention and Conference Centre on the south bank of the Brisbane River was the venue for IHC 2014

Growers enjoy informal functions

Extra activities at the conference were organised to encourage exchange of ideas between researchers and growers, to facilitate understanding of local issues in an international context. Darren Wood of Withcott Seedlings attended the Growers’ Breakfast held one morning before a Plenary session. Withcott Seedlings is a major supplier of vegetable seedlings to the East Coast of Australia and forms an integral link in the supply of fresh food through Australia and East Asia. “Chatting at the breakfast was really useful to learn the ‘big picture’ stuff that can be missed in the busy tasks of growing,” said Darren. “It is good to know what research is running ahead of current practice, such as robotics and LED lighting.”

Networking between growers and scientists serves to keep dialogue operating in both directions: research needs to understand the

challenges of production, and growers can learn of the expectations and limitations of science.

Volunteers in blue

A skilled and dedicated team organised and managed the conference programme in collaboration with ISHS. A team of more than 100 volunteers supported smooth running of daily conference activities. “Our volunteers range from students studying event management to retired professionals who value the life-experience of helping international visitors to Australia,” said Volunteer Team Leader, Dr Robin Roberts. “The logistics of the event must be as good as the science component,” explained Robin. “On the first day we had 12 lost phones, 2 lost children and 3 lost handbags.

We also contribute to the experience outside the conference, such as helping find solutions for medical conditions, religious requirements, dietary preferences and greater tourism questions.”

The blue of the volunteers’ shirts was chosen by the group for its distinctive and noticeable colour.

With 3,000 delegates and more than 2,000 accompanying visitors, the volunteers, wearing distinctive blue shirts, were busy guiding conference attendees around the magnificent Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Australia continues as conference host in 2015

In the years between these ‘Olympic’ events, individual ISHS symposia are held on specialised topics.

For those who missed the chance to visit Brisbane this year, Australia continues its success as a conference host, with the next New Ornamentals symposium scheduled for Perth in August 2015. This coincides with the 50th anniversary of Kings Park, and is held together with the VII Protea Research symposium (protea-new-ornamentals2015.org).

The next International Horticultural Congress is to be held in Turkey in 2018 (ihc2018.org). |||

Tea and lunch breaks held amongst the trade show in the exhibition hall encouraged delegates to meet and mix and chat.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Meet us at TPIE, January 21 - 23, stand 2119 Meet us at IPM, January 27 - 30, stand 2A19

• Spores • Tissue Culture • Rapidly growing assortment

ellen@vitroplus.nl +31 111 468 088 www.vitroplus.nl

World News Denmark/Vietnam

New young plant business for Asian growers Young plant producer Dalat Hasfarm from Vietnam and young plant distributor Greenex from Denmark have been working together since 2004 and are now ready to take their cooperation to the next level by setting up a new young plant business for commercial growers in Asia.

Dalat Hasfarm has been producing young plants since 1994. More recently, though, the company has ventured into young plant production and distribution for other Asian growers.

Sales and marketing in the new venture, called Hasfarm Young Plants, will be led by Torben Pedersen of Greenex, with Greenex acting formally as exclusive agent for the company in all Asian territories.

Greenex’ business outside Asia, in Europe and North America, is not affected.

The venture brings together Dalat Hasfarm’s young plant production operations in Dalat, Vietnam, and in Kunming, China. Hasfarm Young Plants in China operates a state-of-the-art tissue culture laboratory and a cuttings production business in a joint venture with Hilverda Kooij. In terms of climate, facilities and logistics, the company is well positioned to supply markets in both North and Southeast Asia.

Greenex is bringing to the venture its existing client relationships in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and South East Asia. This business focuses on the propagation of pot plant varieties. Dalat Hasfarm also has a substantial Chrysanthemum cutting business in Asia. Greenex is working with a range of well-known and professional breeders, who are very supportive of the new venture, to bring their varieties across to the new company. Hasfarm Young Plants is focused on creating value for its customers by supplying the best quality and genetics, while developing the royalty income for its breeders in Asia.

IP owners are offered a secure and effective way to build their business, working in partnership with a company with excellent production facilities in the region and deep experience of building a business in what often remains a challenging market for breeders. |||

Certifiable in California

by John Ingwersen

Personal contact Greetings from 38,000 feet again, just south of Greenland. It’s been some time since I’ve done an airborne column, which I miss actually; there really isn’t a better place to write, read, or think, assuming you have possess a laptop, a book, or a brain. For my part I’ve got the laptop and the book. I won’t make a judgment on the brains part…

No trade show this time, just visiting some of my customers. It was an excellent trip overall, aside from the fact that I think it rained at least a little, if not a lot, every single day I was in Europe. (So much water, in all the wrong places…ah, a Californian can only dream).

In this day and age of instant communication, cell phones, Skype, FaceTime, Facebook, emails, and faxes, there’s nothing quite like meeting your customer in person to quickly build a common ground, problemsolve, and build a mutual trust and understanding. It calls to mind an old TV commercial from United Airlines, set at a struggling company, where the boss gathers the staff around to tell them they just lost a significant account, bemoans faxes and phones, and emails, and passes out airline tickets (for you youngsters, that was in the old days when you still had to carry a paper ticket, not just flash a QR code on your smartphone) for them to go visit customers. One of his staff then asked the boss where he was going. His answer, “to visit that old friend who fired us…” What a great ad this was, and so correct in its point; all that easy communication cannot and does not make up for personal contact and relationships.

Ergo, I go…

Along the same lines, I’ve heard some folks saying that the wave of the future is the virtual tradeshow, i.e. a sort of on-line showplace. The advantages seem to be many. Cheaper (no airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, or taxis), easier, more time-efficient, and at the same time providing the alleged benefit of reaching more prospects. On the surface it sounds seductive. For sure we’d all like to save money and reach a larger audience with our precious marketing dollars…who wouldn’t? But on second thought, if I was a trade show organiser I wouldn’t be overly concerned, at least not yet. There are still enough people around over 40, who can still communicate in strings longer than 140 characters, and who can remember what it means to shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye. There’s no substitute for that when it comes to meeting prospects and understanding what your customers want, need, and value. And I put my money where my mouth is…see you in Essen next January.

One last note; just had my first bitterballen in 3 years! Will someone please set up a concession in California????? Please???? I promise to help keep whoever it is in business. And a second last note; I just saw the Rijksmuseum without scaffolding in front of it for the first time since… forever???? I’d almost gotten to think the scaffolding was part of the artwork…and now, fini…au revoir til the next time.

John Ingwersen graduated with a degree in marketing from Georgetown University in 1990, and founded Jungle Jack’s, Inc. in 1995. sales@junglejacksthailand.com

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Trade show

Activity at the 2014 International Floriculture Trade Fair (HaarlemmermeerExpo, Netherlands, November 5-7) far exceeded expectations. This year’s show brought together the best of the best in the flower industry.

With over 1,000 companies exhibiting at IFTF, there were plenty of new products for visiting buyers and press.

by Ron van der Ploeg

IFTF 2014 was the largest edition of the show to date

T

he organisers, HPP Exhibitions can look back at a very successful show. All stands for 2014 were fully booked and there was even a waiting list for this year’s show, which opened on Wednesday November 5.

Booths looked more like a miniature flower festival than commercial displays. They were beautifully decorated with a full range of premium quality cut flowers and cut foliage. Occupying pride of place were the cut roses of the renowned breeding companies.

At the IFTF a mood was spread-

ing that the world may now, finally, be emerging from the gloom of the economic crisis, which resulted in a buoyant atmosphere, an outstanding quality of buyers and a constant flow of traffic to booths.

“The 2014 IFTF was the largest edition of the show to date, attracting over 24,258 visitors, up 8% from last year. A record number of countries – 117- were represented in the attendance at this year’s show,” said HPP show organiser Jasper van Dijk, who added that Europe was very well represented with a strong contingent of buyers

Flying the flag for FlowersExpo Russia FlowersExpo Moscow show director Ms Nadeshda Grigorieva travelled down to Vijfhuizen to fly the flag for the next edition of Russia’s leading flower industry showcase (Crocus Expo Moscow, September 8 -10, 2015), but also took the opportunity to present flower and fresh produce importing and exporting business Enigma Fruits&Flowers with the first prize in the FlowersExpo quality competition. Accepting the accolade Enigma CEO Yuri Nezdatniy said, “We are delighted to have won this award, which recognises the hard work that goes into presenting a trade stand.” IFTF worked for Enigma on many levels. It offered the perfect opportunity to meet customers from Russia and suppliers from Israel, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Colombia, Ecuador and India. At the same time the company was able to showcase its extensive range of fresh cut flowers and kitchen herbs. “We’re sure that relationships established at IFTF will develop into long-term cooperation,” said Nezdatniy. |||

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

coming from Germany and France.”

Show organiser HPP Exhibitions, looking into next year and beyond, believes the prospects look bright.

Commenting on next year’s edition, Van Dijk said: “In 2015, we will be expanding our show floor to provide additional space for new exhibitors. The Expo Haarlemmermeer venue has as much as 10,000m2 to grow in the short run. Nothing stands in our way to become the world’s biggest floriculture industry expo, at least from a technical point of view.” |||

ProEcuador announces massive presence at Amsterdam’s 2015 Open Garden Days Enjoying a prime booth location, Ecuador treated IFTF attendees to a showcase of over 40 varieties of cut roses, tropical foliage, Gypshophila and Delphinium grown by the cream of Ecuadorian flower industry: AAAsacorporation, Saecaflor, Ecuamagic, Agricola San Alfonso, Kiara Roses, Latinflor, Naranjo Roses and Unique Collection.

At a launch party on November 5th , ProEcuador announced that next year Ecuadorian roses will again play a prominent role at Amsterdam’s annual Open Garden Days, which are set to be held from June 19 to 21, 2015.

ProEcuador’s Diego Padron explained that the public will be treated to sumptuous and dazzlingly colourful displays of Ecuadorian roses. New next year is the participation of Amsterdam’s premier florists including Pompon, Ivy Flowers, Gerda’s Bloemen, Menno Kroon and Marcel Bloemen who will use tea hybrids, spray roses, garden roses and other flowers and cut foliage from Ecuador in their fresh flower arrangements. ProEcuador is the Institute for Export Promotion of Ecuador with one of its commercial offices being located in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

This year, over 10,000 visitors flocked to the three-day event with more than 25 palaces and museums in the centre of Amsterdam opening their gardens to the public.

In 2015, the roses will be displayed in a wide variety of colours and shapes. Ecuador grows more than 300 varieties of roses, which are known especially by length of the stems (sometimes more than 1 meter), and the size of the bloom (probably the largest in the world), and the bright and beautiful colours of their petals. |||

Deluxe rose from Alexandra Farms Alexandra Farms’ sales manager Maria Paula Cordoba has another great experience at IFTF 2014. The show offered a good opportunity to meet with all the leading major customers and network with industry experts.

Alexandra Farms is proud to announce that since December 2012, the company is among the five lucky flower farms in the world being granted the exclusive rights to grow David Austin English garden cut roses. Over 2,500,000 stems of these deluxe, posh roses entered the market in 2013, just in time for the wedding season!

Meanwhile, Cordoba stressed that the company continues to grow annually another 7,000,000 beautiful roses from Tantau, Kordes, Meilland, Delbard and many other international rose breeders.

In Europe, the roses harvested at Alexandra Farms are made available via distributors in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the UK and Germany. In the Netherlands, Aalsmeer and Schiphol airport are the distribution hubs for many countries in Europe including the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and many Eastern European countries such as Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus.

This year, the Alexandra Farm roses made the first appearance in their own stand. “Our roses have been visible at the IFTF at our customer’s stands since the first IFTF show, but this was the first time we exhibited in our own booth. We are very happy with the results. We caught up with many of our current customers and showcased new varieties. We also shook hands with many new customers from far-away countries such as Quatar, the Maldives and Romania,” said the company’s president, Mr Jose R. Azout. |||

Meilland showcases Rosa 'Princess Charlene' Press officer Matthias Meilland of France’s most renowned rose breeder Meilland proudly presents the Rosa Princess Charlene, which caught the eye of many IFTFgoers.

This summer, attending the re-opening of the Princess Grace Rose Garden (the rose was Princess Grace's favourite flower) in Fontveille, Monaco, princess Charlene of Monaco named her own rose. Rosa ‘Princess Charlene’ (previously known under the name Haiku Perfumella) is a highly fragrant and delicate pink-coloured rose. Matthias said the princess was delighted by having a rose named after her.

What Matthias, in all modesty, forgot to mention however, was the fact that he has his own rose too as his father Alain named three roses after his children: Matthias, Sonia and Anthony. Rosa ‘Matthias Meilland’ bears great clusters of deep red flowers that blooms prolifically from summer through early fall. |||

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Trade show Building the Queen Flower brand Walking away with an unprecedented triple win from the IPM 2014, Queen cut kalanchoes are the latest exciting innovation from the Denmark-based nursery Queen/ Knud Jepsen a/s.

After nearly 11 months of trading, market participants at the IFTF said the new cut flower is proving "very promising".

Founded in 1963, Queen is a leading grower producing approximately 25 million kalanchoe plants and 50 million kalanchoe cuttings in a 120,000m2 area. Its new cut kalanchoe is the prime example of Queens innovative thinking.

Being granted an important export subsidy by the Danish government, Queen has unrolled an impressive marketing campaign around Queen cut kalanchoes with trade show presences as far as in Japan (picture). Queen Flowers are presented as a stylish brand, including a special rotating display to draw the attention of supermarket customers. Each bouquet comes in its own packaging consisting of a waterproof cardboard box with transparent foil on the top.

At the 2014 IPM, three Queen® CutFlowers varieties battled it out for the award – Amazing Pink Meadow, Adorable Pink Meadow and Blossom Pink Meadow. “The judges could not decide which variety they liked best, so they awarded the prize to all three,” says Queen® marketing manager, Louise Jepsen. To date the Queen Flower family has sixteen members in different colour shades.

The nursery has high expectations of its new varieties, which are bred to stay fresh and colourful for as long as potted kalanchoes.

Tested by some of Denmark’s top florists, Queen® CutFlowers are suitable for all floristry techniques – even those where the flowers are not kept in water. “Our varieties make dazzling decorations, either when used alone or with other long-lasting materials. And they can be enjoyed for weeks,” Louise Jepsen said. |||

Concentrated feeding stuff for predatory mites Modelling the Makita blower with Biobest’s Nutrimite App is Biobest sales representative Bart Sosef, a seasoned expert in the horticultural supply industry.

Nutrimite is a 100% natural food supplement made from a special selection of pollen and is designed to stimulate biological pest control. It helps growers reach higher numbers of predatory mites throughout the whole season.

With NutrimiteTM the swirskii army get well established early on, even before pests like whitefly and thrips arrive.

This prevents the pests from spreading. Using Nutrimite, growers are also able to maintain a strong population until the very end of the season.

The advantages go well beyond fewer chemicals and better pest control,“ said Sosef. “Fewer chemical sprays also means less labour and fewer days during which we have to restrict access of our employees to the greenhouse.”

Nutrimite also helps to gain in flexibility when it comes to easily integrate other beneficial organisms such as Delphastus in biocontrol programmes.

To apply Nutrimite, growers use the Makita blower with Biobest’s Nutri-App attachment. At first, they found it difficult to move fast enough down narrow pathways and get the fine pollen particles distributed evenly over the whole area intended. Now they mix NutrimiteTM with an inert carrier. This allows growers to move steadily and spread the product evenly. |||

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Euphoria in the making Danziger cut flower sales manager Anat Moshes enjoyed exhibiting at IFTF where she put the company’s new cut Euphorbia in the limelight. Perfectly aware that new products can’t be developed in a bubble, Danziger used the IFTF to speak to wouldbe customers to gather suggestions, feedback and input.

The new cut Euphorbia is basically an Euphorbia cyathophoraaceae, also known as Mexican fire plant. This poinsettia has green stems and alternate lobed leaves, the uppermost with irregular red blotches near the base. The terminal flowers are yellowish with 1-2 small glands or nectaries. Euphorbia cyathophora is an annual crop, originating in central America. Euphorbia cyathophora thrives in high temperatures and high light densities, which makes it suitable for growing in regions that endure high temperatures, and even in seasonal countries in which it can be grown during summer time – a time which usually is a difficult one for summer flowers. It can be grown in the open field and under tunnels, in all types of drained soils, although light soil is preferable. Plant density is 18-22 plants per m². The stem length can reach 80 cm. and more, with weight of 25 grams and above. Euphorbia cyathophora is a convenient in cultivation, with a fast growth cycle of about 70-90 days from planting to harvesting. It is a high-yielding product that can be regulated to a continuous harvest. During the vegetative stage, a shading net is recommended to avoid induction as high radiation; long days and hot temperatures are the factors for flowering induction. As for the milky substance related to Euphorbia varieties, Euphorbia cyathophora extracts some milky substance when harvested . However, we found out that if one harvests and puts in regular water in the field and then charges it with a solution of 0.1% Galileo for about 4 hours – this will melt most of the milky substance and will facilitate packing. This newly launched Euphorbia is currently being grown in Israel by a selected number of growers, and Danziger believes this new and innovative product should be introduced to market in a way that will ensure its success. Our marketing plan includes more countries in which it will be grown to ensure all year-round supply of this amazing product. It would be somewhat exaggerated to say that Euphorbia cyathophora received euphoric reactions but both growers and buyers showed strong interest. The search for a fitting brand name is underway. |||

Mester Grønn’s CEO Erling Ølstad leads Norway’s trade delegation Mester Grønn CEO and owner Mr Erling Ølstad toured the IFTF on Thursday November 6th. He was joined by a delegation of 18 Mester Grønn managers of the Norway-based flower shop chain, who celebrated the opening of their 108th shop that same day. More exciting news is to come before the end of the year when the flower shop chain will have added another two shops to its already extensive retail network.

Danish rose breeder Rosa Eskelund of Roses Forever generated a great deal of Norwegian interest in her new range of Viking roses, including varieties with Bourbon-shaped flowers, vivid colours and excellent shelf life. Mester Grønn started sourcing roses from East Africa in 1999 and is now buying 95% of its roses from this region. Viking roses fit the company’s vision to “create joy in every home”, and it was rumoured that the Norwegians and Eskelund are now looking for ways to produce Viking roses in Africa to meet market demand in Norway.

Eskelund first entered the Norwegian market in the 1990s teaming up with Erik Rosnes Finstad Produksjon to produce a full range of Roses Forever mini roses and Infinity roses. |||

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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FloraForever Award Once again the team of FloraCulture International set out to find the best adverts published in its magazine in 2014 by consulting marketing gurus and communication experts throughout the world.

A long-lasting flora-forever impression

T

he FloraForever Award now in its 4th year, and true to its name, aims at honouring creative excellence in the international advertising and marketing communications industry and looks for those advertisements which leave a long lasting, floraforever impression!

Danziger/ Dynamic Love

(FCI July/August 2014 issue)

DYNAMIC LOVE™

Objective assessment

by Ron van der Ploeg

The FloraForever entries have been judged on the basis of two criteria: the originality of the creative idea and the quality of its execution.

FloraCulture International is very proud to announce that top creative executive Ms Gill Norriss (see box) has once again agreed on selecting the nominees and unveiling the final Award winner.

We are delighted to have Gill on board, as she knows the sector inside out.

Nominees

The FloraForever Awards are open to all advertisers of FloraCulture International, the leading business magazine on floriculture worldwide. Both national and international campaigns may compete. Out of hundreds of advertisements Gill selected five nominees which are in alphabetic order:

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

• Sturdy yet flexible stems with no breakage • Beautiful ball shaped full white flowers • Great efficiency and ease for bouquet makers and flower arrangers

Danziger – ‘Dan’ Flower Farm, P.O.Box 186, Mishmar Hashiva 5029700, Israel Tel: +972-3-9602525, Fax: +972-3-9605896, E-mail: danziger@danziger.co.il, www.danziger.co.il FIND US ON For more information about where you can purchase Dynamic Love™ please contact: michals@danziger.co.il

Name of designer: Gili Keidar/ Studio Amitula The creative idea: “The concept behind this advertisement intended for the buyers and florists, was to emphasize and highlight the advantages of Dynamic Love™, namely its full white flowers and rich clusters, which make it a perfect combination in any bouquet and flower arrangement. The usage of fireworks was done in order to demonstrate the dense inflorescence of the Dynamic Love™ as a burst of fireworks.”

Poeppelmann / All rounder

(FCI May 2014 issue) Name of the designer: KAAPKE GmbH 49685 Emstek/Ecopark, Germany The creative idea: “The "TEKU® makes the difference" campaign focuses on the customer’s benefit and puts them in the conscious perception of the target group. Poeppelmann TEKU® ,for example, is the perfect partner when it comes to plants since this business division offers everything from a single source: from thermoformed hanging baskets to suitable ALL equipment - first-class ROUNDER. solutions in plastics for the horticulture industry. Or in one word: A real allrounder.”

From thermoformed hanging baskets through to matching accessories, Pöppelmann TEKU∏ offers you everything from one source. The right contact to talk to about your plants.

800 products in 2,000 versions.

Outstanding product availability.

Because: TEKU∏ makes the difference.

The brand new TEKU∏ catalogue is here! – Order now: +494442982-1605

Pöppelmann GmbH & Co. KG · Kunststoffwerk-Werkzeugbau Bakumer Straße 73 · 49393 Lohne · Germany Phone +49 4442 982-1605 · Fax +49 4442 982-1607 teku@poeppelmann.com · www.poeppelmann.com

Lex+/Where do you meet Lex+?

(FCI September 2014 issue) Name of designer: Miranda van Renswoude/The Dutch from Huizen, Netherlands The creative idea: “Lex+ is a very special rose breeding company.

It attaches great importance to long-term customer relationships. It relishes the opportunity to meet its (potential) customers at its annual open days in Kudelstaart and at trade shows around the world. This also the advertising message, which provides a comprehensive overview of the company’s presence at leading industry events.”

Where do you meet Lex Lex+?

OPEN DAYS LEX+ 2014 KUDELSTAART, THE NETHERLANDS 4-7 November

AGRIFLOR 2014 QUITO, ECUADOR 1-4 October

IFTF 2014

VIJFHUIZEN, THE NETHERLANDS 5-7 November Booth 5.04

NAIVASHA HORTICULTURAL FAIR 2014 NAIVASHA, KENYA 19-20 September

FLOWER EXPO 2014 MOSCOW, RUSSIA 17-19 September Booth C-150

Website WWW.LEX.NL Email INFO@LEX.NL Phone + 31 (0)29 736 1422

Lex-adv_209x279.indd 1

19-08-14 15:36

And the winner is...

DANZIGER/DYNAMIC LOVE

After extensive deliberation Danziger/Dynamic Love was declared winner of the 2014 FloraForever Award. The prize includes free upgrading of their full page ad in the January 2015 issue of FCI. Commenting on this year’s winner Gills Noriss said: “The choice of a winner has been particularly challenging this year. However, bearing in mind the objectives of the Flora Forever Award, Danziger Dynamic Love has won by a narrow margin.

The Dynamic Love advertisement has an undeniably strong and pleasing visual impact. The simple, clear title and the brief, punchy and informative supplementary statements reinforce the strengths of the product. However, the main image, so full of impact and dynamism, with its dramatically contrasting colours, is the most powerful and striking element of the ad. The fireworks and vibrant sparkles, bringing a touch of richness and colour to the flower bursts, provide movement and excitement, whilst skillfully retaining the identity of the flowers alongside the symbolism, making the image both striking and memorable. This successfully achieves the designer’s aim of demonstrating ‘the dense inflorescence’ of Dynamic Love. The inset image adds a further touch of colour and a clear example of the product in an appropriate context for readers. Creative, attractive and well balanced, with necessary contact information discreetly included, this, for me, certainly leaves ‘a longlasting, flora-forever impression’.

However, Salon du Vegetal is highly commended. It is colourful, impactful and informative, offering a strong message based around an interesting and highly relevant concept.” |||

Salon du Végétal/ Go green

Selecta/Blossom Pearls

(FCI September 2014 issue) Name of designer: Sabina Reiner/ Selecta Cut Flowers The creative idea “Our goal was to create a truly different kind of advertising for Pearls® Blossom gypsophila. It attracts the reader’s attention and is memorable, just like our products.

We believe simple ads enables quick brand recognition. Therefore our ad design is simple and visually elegant. It clearly communicates the product’s unique values, which in Pearls® Blossom’s case is terrific display value and superior quality. This message is sup-

• Sturdy yet flexible stems with no breakage • Beautiful ball shaped full white flowers • Great efficiency and ease for bouquet makers and flower arrangers

Danziger – ‘Dan’ Flower Farm, P.O.Box 186, Mishmar Hashiva 5029700, Israel Tel: +972-3-9602525, Fax: +972-3-9605896, E-mail: danziger@danziger.co.il, www.danziger.co.il FIND US ON For more information about where you can purchase Dynamic Love™ please contact: michals@danziger.co.il

ported by product photography, perfectly presenting the product’s advantages. The artwork employs real pearls in order to help readers easier remember the brand name “Pearls”. Building brand awareness requires repetition and consistency; therefore, we are keeping our “Pearls” brand identity in connection with all Pearls varieties the same, no matter which channel we are using – online, print, or direct communication.” |||

Gill Norriss Gill Norriss runs a small marketing communications agency based in the UK. Over the last 16 years, she has combined marketing communications and marketing strategy in the agricultural, horticultural, veterinary and agri-business sectors with her more longstanding work in market research. Over the years Gill has managed projects for many major companies through West, East and Central European countries and has been involved in numerous marketing campaigns as well as both product and corporate branding and re-branding exercises.

Terrific display value & superior quality

®

Bred by Menachem Bornstein

(FCI January 2014 issue) Name of designer: Eric Ruillier/La Formule The creative idea: “The message for the whole plant world is to encourage the ornamental horticulture and gardening industry to turn the universe in a lush green oasis. Let’s plant plants! Let’s ‘Go Green’. This theme concerns all the partners in the supply chain: towns and public gardens, specialist shops and of course the end consumer.

Allow plants the place they deserve! The simple use of bicolour tones makes our slogan easy to read and striking, giving a sense of belonging and enthusing our exhibitors.”

DYNAMIC LOVE™

www.selectacutflowers.com Creating the futureTM

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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International Events December 2014

February 2015

2 to 3. Germany.

Breeders & Young Plant Producers Conference in Rattingen, Germany. info@fleuroselect.com www.fleuroselect.com

4 to 6. Germany Fruit Logistica Berlin, the world’s leading trade fair for the fresh fruit and vegetable business. www.fruitlogistica.de

2 to 4. United States New York Produce Show & Conference. register@nyproduceshow.com www.nyproduceshow.com 3 to 6. Turkey Growtech Eurasia, international greenhouse, agricultural equipment and technologies fair in Antalya, Turkey. www.growtech.com.tr 9 to 11. United States Great Lakes, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo and Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo. www.glexpo.com 19-14. India KISAN, India’s largest agricultural trade show in Pune. team@kisan.com www.kisan.in January 2015 14-16. United States MANTS (Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show) at the Baltimore Convention Center. www.mants.com 16-25. Germany Grüne Woche, international green week Berlin. The world’s biggest fair for food, agriculture and horticulture. www.gruenewoche.de 20-23. United States Mid Atlantic Short Course at Marriott at City Center, Newport News, Virginia. info@mahsc.org www.mahsc.org 21-23. United States Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE) at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, USA. www.tpie.org 27 to 30. Germany IPM Essen at the Messe Essen. info@ipm-essen.de www.ipm-essen.de

4 to 6. United States New England Grows at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston, Massachusetts www.newenglandgrows.com 17 to 19. France Salon du Végétal at the Parc des Expositions in Angers, France. salon@bhr-vegetal.com www.salon-du-vegetal.com 25 to 27. Italy Myplant&Garden, inaugural edition of Milan’s brand new horticultural trade show at the Fiere Milano Rho fair ground. www.myplantgarden.com 26-28. Poland Gardenia, nursery stock trade show at Poznan’s International Fair. www.gardenia.mtp.pl March 2015 Colombia International symposium on Medicinal Plants and Natural Products, Bogotá, Colombia http://phytoessence.org/ ISMPN2015 Offical dates to be announced yet.

1 to 8. United States 2015 Philadelphia International Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

P (215) 988-8833 jliebreich@pennhort.org www.theflowershow.com 3-12. Taiwan Taiwan International Orchid Show (TIOS) at the Taiwan Plantation in Tainan, Taiwan. info@tios.org.tw www.tios.org.tw 11 to 13. United States World Floral Expo 2015 at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. www.hppexhibitions.com 11-15. Switzerland Giardina, the country’s leading home and garden show at the Messe Zurich convention centre. www.giardina.ch 13-22. Canada CanadaBlooms at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre & Exhibition Place. www.canadablooms.com

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

14 to 15. United States The Northeast Floral Expo, the nation’s 4th largest florist trade show, serving the floral industry in New England, New York, New Yersey and beyond. Venue: Mystic Marriott Hotel&Spa in Croton, United States. www.northeastfloralexpo.com 14 to 15. United Kingdom RHS Garden Rosemoor Spring Flower Show. www.rhs.org.uk 14 to 22. United States Chicago Flower & Garden Show at the Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois P (312) 241-1250 F (888) 845-4148 info@chicagoflower.com www.chicagoflower.com 17 to 19. Thailand Horti Asia at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC). www.hortiasia.net 20 March- 17 May. The Netherlands The world famous spring garden in Lisse, Netherlands. The 2015 Keukenhof theme will be ‘Van Gogh’, one of Holland’s most famous painters. www.keukenhof.nl 25 to 27. Ethiopia Hortiflora Expo at the Millenium Hall in Addis Ababa. www.hppexhibitions.com 25 to 27. Australia Melbourne International Flower&Garden Show at the Royal Exhibition Building & Carlon Gardens. info@melbflowershow.com.au www.melbflowershow.com.au 31 March to 2 April. Ukraine The organisers of Flowers & HorTech Ukraine, Nova Exhibitions and CoD Exhibitions Ltd., are pleased to inform that the 9th edition of Flowers & HorTech Ukraine will take place from 31 March – 2 April 2015 in Kiev.

The exhibition will, as always, be organised under the patronage of the Flower Council of Ukraine. info@nova-exhibitions.com Contact person: Mr. Kuno Jacobs April 2015 8-12. United Kingdom 17th European Orchid Show and Conference London 2015.

The show will fill the RHS Horticultural Halls in Vincent Square, London with large displays from professional growers, orchid societies and botanical gardens from around Europe. Traders from around the world will be offering their newest hybrids and unusual orchid species. www.rhs.org.uk

11 to 16. United States 2015 California Spring Trials.

13 to 15. Sweden Nordic Flower Expo, MalmöMässan, Malmö, Sweden.

Nordics leading trade fair for flowers and plants targeting trade visitors from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic region. www.nordicflowerexpo.com 17 to 19. United Kingdom RHS Flower Show Cardiff www.rhs.org.uk 19 to 24. Italy 6th International Symposium on Production and Establishment of Micropropagated Plants. www.regflor.it/ISHS2015/ 22 to 24. China Hortiflorexpo at Shanghai’s New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). www.hortiflorexpo.com May 2015 7 to 10. United Kingdom Malvern Spring Festival. www.rhs.org.uk 19 to 23. United Kingdom RHS Chelsea Flower Show. www.rhs.org.uk 21-23. Azerbaijan Agrihort, 9th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition in Baku.

Agrihort@ceo.az www.agrihort.az 28 May to 1 June. Ireland Bloom 2015 is Ireland’s most important flower & garden show which will take place in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. www.bloominthepark.com 31 May- 3 June. Sweden ISHS 18th International Symposium on Horticultural Economics and Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp. www.slu.se/ ishseconomicman2015 June 2015 Exact dates to be confirmed.

Portugal VIII International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops in Lleida, Spain. jordi.marsal@irta.es 3 to 5. Kenya Iftex, International Flower Trade Expo at the Oshwal convention centre in Nairobi. www.iftex.org

World News

Happy Gardening

by Anthony Tesselaar

Sell it to your mother Remember this display? At Essen a few years back? I loved it then and I love it as much now. I offer it here for your pleasure, but also as a means of introducing this collection of three random business ideas that I’d like to share…

France

French minister for agriculture unveils Fleurs de France label Fleurs de France label is aiming to better help consumers make informed floral purchase choices and ultimately encourage them to buy flower and plants that were grown in France.

Fleurs de France, launched on Wednesday October 8th, will label products from French greenhouses, and plant nurseries and encourage the growth of France’s indigenous horticulture and gardening industry.

The French flower industry has suffered a series of upsets in recent years, with high production costs, cheap imports, a lack of political support and cheap imports driving the country’s illustrious flower farms out of business.

But the national resource that the industry represent has not been fully exploited. Growing ornamental flowers and plants in France can yield economic benefits and therefore the French industry association Val’Hor launched its Fleurs de France label on October 8th during its annual general meeting.

Stéphane Le Foll, the French minister for Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry has put his support to French grown flowers and plants and was on hand to officially unveil the Fleurs de France logo. “I sincery hope that this label will be of great benefit to the entire industry”, he said. |||

1. The photo above is of clogs and carnations. My mother was Dutch and therefore not a stranger to clogs. The clogs in the photo above are filled with carnations which are the traditional flower for Mother’s Day bouquets in Australia. So I associate this photo with gifts to my mother and it leads me to the first point that I want to share: my rule of business which says … never invest in anything that isn’t good enough to sell to your mother. (Note, not give, but sell) If you think about it, it’s a great rule to guide your decision-making.

When you’re trying to convince yourself or your colleagues to support a proposal, imagine your own mother is in the room and that you have to convince her to back the scheme. Your gut feeling will help you weed out the time-wasting options from the brilliant propositions. And ultimately, if you feel that your own mother is happy to open her purse to support or buy something, you can be sure others will too.

2. What follows next is based on something my father shared with me once. He had a friend who’d occupied an impossibly high-ranking position in something like the International Monetary Fund. When the time came for him to move on, he quickly noted that much of the respect he’d enjoyed while he was in the role had evaporated. He realised that it was literally the ‘chair’ he’d sat in that had given him the power and attention he’d become accustomed to over the years. My father went on to tell me that in fact this man had earned people’s respect independently from the chair. I took from this story a tip – that it is good to remember that in your dealings it’s important to gain the respect of others and not use your position as leverage.

3. And finally, it’s always good to think about how a person on the other side of the deal feels. For example, years ago when I was immersed in the family’s mail-order catalogue business we were always looking for ways to extend our distribution lists. This is common practice now, but it was a revolutionary idea back then. We rewarded existing customers who recommended us to someone new. And the idea came simply by thinking how the existing customer could feel. So when you’re next chewing over a new approach, venture, organisational structure or whatever, try to imagine it from everyone’s viewpoint. If you spend the time doing this I believe that you will enjoy more success.

That’s it. One, two, three ideas shared.

Anthony Tesselaar hails from Anthony Tesselaar International, an international project management company dealing in plants, horticultural research & development and strategic water management. www.tesselaar.com / ATesselaar@tesselaar.com

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Christmas 2014 While preparing gifts and decorating your real Christmas tree, do you sometimes think of the 6 to 8 years of highland cultivation it took to bring it to your home? Focus on the Belgium Ardennes and the French Morvan, two European regions that are home to a sizeable Christmas tree production.

Both are midmountain areas with a continental climate and low nutrient acid soils, ideal for growing strong trees that transport very well.

by Marie-Françoise Petitjean

O Christmas tree, Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

A

lthough originated from forestry, production of the Christmas tree has experienced a strong international development and moved from a traditional harvest of wild trees to a highly professional nursery stock production, in dedicated plots of lands. Christmas trees are grown in container or in the field according to its destination (cut tree or container tree) during 6 to 8 years.

European production is estimated to 60 million trees, Denmark and Germany being the major producers, with respectively 20 and 12 million trees. France and Belgium rank 3rd and 4th in this grading.

Ardennes

In Belgium, the Ardennes plateau, the total area of production dedicated to commercial Christmas tree growing lies between 3,000 to 5,000 hectares with the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur and Liège hosting most of the tree nurseries.

Greencap and Altitude 500 are

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

among the top 3 Christmas tree growers. It is estimated this region hosts 150 professional growers producing 2,5 to 3 million trees per year.

Gerald de Wouters welcomes us at Greencap nursery, located near Transinne. The company runs a 500ha farm, of which 325ha dedicated to Christmas tree growing, situated over three sites. They specialise in a full range of Christmas tree species, 65% of production being focused on Nordmann type (Abies nordmanniana). UP to 75% of the production is exported to France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland.

Founded 22 years ago, the company has an offensive innovation and expansion policy. "You may be surprised to see greenhouses for Christmas tree production," said Greencap nursery manager Gerald de Wouters. He added, “But we have been moving the first stage of our container production under cover, to shorten the production

Picea abies is the traditional Christmas tree.

cycle and optimise land use. Christmas trees require 4 years propagation and 6 to 8 years of cultivation.

By placing young plants under greenhouse, we are saving 2 years and reduce losses by 10 to 20%.”

Containerised trees makes up 30% of the production, the other seedlings being directly planted in the soil. While growers tend to switch from production to trade, Greencap goes the opposite way. “We are expanding our own production, to

Popular species Naudet Sapins de Noël’s Frédéric Naudet.

monitor quantity and quality. We developed 500 hectares of production in Brittany, France and a 450 ha in Scotland. Our volumes allow us to propose the whole range of species and size as well as mixed pallets; this is a big advantage that other countries like Denmark do not offer.”

Atitude 500 owner Louis Brasseur grows and sells 500,000 Christmas trees in his tree nursery located near Neufchâteau. Like many colleagues, he started by trading Christmas trees from various growers, but quickly realised that the promising market would not go without a high professionalism and capacity to supply significant volumes. "I planted my first trees in 1988 and since then I have invested in production every year to follow market developments. Nevertheless, quantities are only one side of the coin: making business with retailers requires consistency and reliability; there is no place for "one shot" sales.

We export 75% of our production, mainly to France (45-50 %) and the United Kingdom (25 %).”

Louis shares Gerald views regarding the importance of a controlled production. "Autonomy in volumes, quality and logistic is key. One must be able to fulfil orders up to 500, 000 trees in six weeks! Every link of the supply chain must be

under control: customer relationship, available range and quantities, order preparation and control, delivery. This requires organisation, equipment and know-how that you build over time."

Next to volumes and service, Altitude 500 also innovates by introducing new products, especially species suitable to be replanted.

In the commercial field, daughter company LSFB serves direct sales to the Paris market.

ABIES NORDMANNIANA (synonym Caucausian fir or Nordmann fir) an evergreen conifer making a large tree to 30m or more, with narrow conical or columnar crown, with dense, glossy dark green foliage on down-swept branches. Young cones green or reddish, becoming brown (Source: RHS). The Nordmann fir has the special quality of retaining its needles for a very long time after cutting. Here we have an impressive Christmas tree with dense foliage and a regular outline. The Nordmann fir is generally sold cut since its roots (taproot system) are not suitable for setting in soil. It sells at a higher price than the common spruce because it grows much more slowly.

France

While Belgium growers export most of their Christmas tree production, France is a consumer market, with a slight trade deficit, despite its 4 to 5 million trees production. "There are 800 growers, who produce 80% of Christmas trees sold in France on 4,800ha," explained Frédéric Naudet.

He runs a family business, Naudet Sapins de Noël, covering an area of 450ha at the heart of the Morvan region. "In the 1990s, we used to sell young picea plants as Christmas trees.

Following market demand from garden centres and retailers, we have developed a fully agricultural production.”

Naudet sells 75% of cut trees and 25% containers, which is higher than the French market (90%

ABIES NOBILIS (synonym Majestic fir, Noble fir or tuck-tuck pine) owes its title (with connotations of nobility) to its magnificent bluish-green foliage, its majestic demeanour and its balsamic fragrance. Like the Caucasian fir the nobilis will not shed its needles. It has a taproot system, hence it will only take root in the garden when grown in the pot.

>>>

At GreencapBut, greenhouses are used to grow ‘first stage’ containerised trees.

ABIES FRASERI (synonym Fraser fir, southern balsam fir or she-balsa) has bright deep green foliage on the reverse side.

Displaying attractive silvery reflections. Its needles will not drop off when they dry out. Its fine reticulate rooting makes it possible to supply it with exposed roots in soil or in a container.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Christmas 2014 Popular species

Abies nordmanniana production site.

cut trees, 10% pots or root balls).

Frédéric has long been involved in professional organisations to promote quality and sustainable Christmas trees. He is president of the French association of Natural Christmas tree (AFSNN), as well as of the working group on Label Rouge quality label. "The association has first been working on quality criteria, then adopted at European level. We also organise technical meetings and training to improve production techniques and sustainability. A lot has been done to reduce herbicides for instance.”

Frédéric refutes the allegation of the agro-industry raised in countries like Germany. "When the Christmas tree was a side activity of forest gathering, there were no rules governing collection from the wild, be it in terms of quality or forest preservation. Nowadays, growers are professional farmers, who adopt low impact agriculture techniques.

Furthermore, Christmas trees contribute to maintain an activity and employment in remote mid-mountain area that would otherwise be deserted.” Frédéric quotes a Canadian study that clearly attributes a better carbon balance to natural Christmas tree than artificial ones, sourced from non-recyclable petroleum products. "During their cultivation, Christmas trees absorb CO². To include the whole lifecycle of the product, we push the end consumer to recycle the cut trees or replant container trees."

Quality wise, Frédéric has first been developing a regional ‘Légende du Morvan’ quality brand, but wants to go further: The French ornamental industry is now building on

the renowned Label Rouge award for edible products to extend it to ornamental plants: the purpose is to award superior quality products, guaranteed by public authorities, to create confidence with the consumer. The first certified Dahlias are already on the market, while product groups are working to set specifications for roses, geranium and Christmas trees. "Besides strict quality criteria from seedling to finished tree, one of the key points is introducing a harvest date for cutting Christmas tree to guarantee freshness", concluded Frédéric.

PICEA ABIES (synonym Norway spruce) is the traditional Christmas tree with a good scent, but quick to drop its needles.

Spraying with 'Spray 'n Save' Christmas tree spray will help reduce needle drop. It has a pyramid growth habit. Its foliage is pure green and its main selling point is price.

Market trends

Despite a sluggish market, purchases of Christmas trees show a good resistance. Nordmann trees have gained a 65% market share, thanks to their well-stocked foliage and long-lasting needles. Nevertheless, the demand for Picea abies has been recently rising, supposedly because of their lower price. In order to diversify their offer, garden centres push growers to grow new species, like Abies nobilis, Abies fraseri or Picea omorika, but these remain niche products, with an estimated 10% market share.

Facing their main competitor Denmark, both French and Belgium growers believe in their proximity comparative advantage. They also agree that real competition lies in artificial trees, presently 15% of the market. Even if lower growth rates are expected in the coming years, natural Christmas trees have good days ahead: they are strongly associated with Christmas values, and respond to the expectation of locally-grown-natural products. |||

PICEA OMORIKA (synonym Serbian spruce) distinguishes itself by its silvery colour. Picea omorika is an evergreen conifer forming a graceful, slender tree of narrowly conical habit, with dark foliage, whitish beneath, in drooping sprays curving up at the tips (Source: RHS).

PICEA PUNGENS GLAUCA GROUP (synonym Colorado spruce or blue spruce) is a conifer with the most silvery foliage, generally sold ready cut. The noble character of its bluish foliage compensates for the rather sharp needles. This Christmas tree holds its needles better than the Norway spruce.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Trade show

Glamour reigned supreme as stylish pot plants and fresh cut flowers dazzled at the FloraHolland Trade Fair (flower auction FloraHolland Aalsmeer November 5-7).

Glamour reigns supreme at FloraHolland Trade Fair Aalsmeer T

he FloraHolland Trade Fair, a 99% pot plant and cut flower based event, is produced by the world’s largest flower auction FloraHolland. This year’s show engaged over 14,000 participants on a 22,000m2 show floor comprised of 750 exhibits, 460 of which were pot plant suppliers and 180 cut flower growers. Additionally, the 3-day event provided the ideal showcase for 50 breeding companies and a few floral wholesalers and hard-good and service suppliers. There was a good vibe throughout the event, perpetuated by enthusiastic global visitors who were proactively seeking to drive their business forward via product innovation.

A real buzz

by Ron van der Ploeg

There was a real buzz and it has been brilliant to see the spread of international and Dutch visitors

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

who attended the show to learn, network and do business. Exhibitors were pleased with the quality and quantity of visitors to their stand. International customers (who visited the fair with their Dutch supplier), garden retailers, florists, distributors and others involved in commercial floriculture flocked in their thousands to see a show with a redesigned layout, including wider aisles and spacing.

True glamour

True glamour stalked the grey and red carpet at the FloraHolland Trade Fair Aalsmeer last month.

Not the cheap imitation kind that has marred what is truly the busiest FloraHolland event of the year, but tailored and stylish stand design to suit the limited space, to attract attention and create lasting memories for the buyers audience.

Everything about the stands just oozed quality with beautifully arranged flowers, pots perfectly matching plants and dĂŠcor and dynamic graphics, premium quality product and lighting being the perfect combination.

PrimaLabel, run by Russian-born Elena Kasakova, deserves great credit. Not only for taking stand design to the next level but also for taking on a challenge many established stand builders would shy away from: dazzle customers and make them love the products and companies, even if these same customers are trapped in a somewhat claustrophobic venue with an absolute absence of daylight.

Amsterdam-based PrimaLabel designed and constructed 11 exhibition stands of which one was award-winning. |||

Best Stand Award As a kalanchoe grower Kwekerij Vreugdenberg was fortunate that the FloraHolland Trade Fair Aalsmeer came just at the right time in their development cycle. The event delivered a significant number of good quality contacts and customers showed strong interest in the company’s newly launched La Mia Favorita brand, including top kalanchoes from mainly own breeding (Topcolour Breeding).

Stealing the limelight at the FloraHolland Trade Fair was crowd-pleaser kalanchoe Bella Bianca featuring an abundance of large flowers in snowy white. Bella Bianca was one of the stars in the FloraHolland wedding-themed booths in hall 2 (Vreugdenberg, V.d. Hoorn Orchids, Pikoplant and Florious). Its spectacular blooms in a packaging that seemed to beg to be touched and enjoyed, helped to win the Best Stand Award in the plant grower category. CyMoreFlavour and Schreurs took the crown in the cut flower grower and breeder categories respectively.

Vreugdenberg is a major player in kalanchoe production, especially of single- flowered La Mia Favorita kalanchoes. The family business operates a 35,0000m2 state-of-the-art greenhouse complex and demonstrates excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, product quality and commitment to sustainability efforts. In 2010, for example, Aad Vreugdenhil was the first grower to test his kalanchoe young plants and semi-finished plants in the Philips/BVB LED Test Centre.

Yet the massive production, now running at more than 6 million plants each year, is from a company that started from small beginnings 38 years ago. Aad’s father, Huib, set out in 1976 with less than 2 ha near Schipluiden, 5 km south of Delft, Netherlands. |||

OrchiDiva Fairy tale Ficus Indoor plant (Ficus, Alocasia, Coffea, Croton, Dieffenbachia, Dracaena) grower De Groot Plantenkwekerij from Langeweg, Netherlands said that FloraHolland Trade Fair was a fabulous opportunity to gain insight into what buyers expect from them as a supplier. There was lots of interest in their Efteling Fairy Tale Tree.

The Fairy Tale Tree is one of the fairy tale characters residing in Efteling’s Fairytale Forest.

Efteling is the Netherlands’ trademark theme park which has attracted over 70 million visitors since it opened in 1952.

To create a miniature version of the Fairy Tale Tree, De Groot uses its own dwarf Ficus ‘Green Kinky’, featuring small, green leaves.

A moulded plastic image of the Fairy Tale Tree, imported from China, surrounds the trunk.

According to De Groot’s Robin Lokers, sales at Efteling and supermarkets have been good over the past few weeks. “Demand for the tree was huge. So far 10,000 trees have been sold with new trees available in early January.” |||

No better way to support your new winning formula of OrchiDiva® cymbidiums by showcasing them in a Porsche 356 which once was accustomed to being a star of the road.

OrchiDiva traded previously as Orchid Nursery Muilwijk-Besuijen and King of Orchids and is now the brand name including a contemporary range of pot Cymbidiums, which is marketed by the nursery with the same name.

The FloraHolland Trade Fair offered OrchiDiva the opportunity to debate its seasonal packaging in a varying colour scheme. Just like the clothes and the interior industry, OrchiDiva® responds to the seasons to tempt consumers to purchase a new product.

OrchiDiva® sells many different varieties - and a unique range of colours - in the period that the OrchiDiva® is available. |||

>>>

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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Trade show

Roselily FlowersExpo Moscow show director Ms Nadeshda Grigorieva travelled down to Vijfhuizen to fly the flag for the next edition of Russia’s leading flower industry showcase (Crocus Expo Moscow, September 8 -10, 2015), but also took the opportunity to present Moerman Lilium with a FlowersExpo Award.

The double-flowered, light-pink Roselily Isabella, reigned supreme at the 2014 Quality Competition, which was held in conjunction with the 2014 FlowersExpo Moscow (Crocus Expo Moscow September 17-19, 2014).

The Roselily is a pollen free, entirely double flowered oriental lily which is sold under the Roselily brand name. Roselily is the creation of lily breeders De Looff from the Dutch province of Zeeland. Back in 1997 they spotted a natural mutation in their crop which resulted in the first official seedling of a double flowered oriental lily.

Since its international debut at the 2012 IPM Essen, the Roselily can count on an overwhelmingly positive response by growers by traders and florists from all corners of the world. Therefore the

Surpreme Selections Dutch floral wholesaler Hilverda De Boer chose to exhibit at the FloraHolland Trade Fair to launch its new Surpeme Selections brand and product range to their current customers and the global flower community. Hilverda De Boer marketing manager Brenda Sleeuwenhoek explained that the brand includes fresh cut flowers of the highest quality, sourced from 30 Dutch growers. Sleeuwenhoek was visibly happy with the company’s prime location which generated steady traffic. Equally well-attended were Hilverda De Boer’s Open Days at its De Kwakel-based headquarters. |||

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Moerman brothers have decided to extend their production area for next year to 8,000m2 growing the Roselily ‘Carolina’®, Roselily ‘Elena’®, Roselily ‘Isabella’®, Roselily ‘Nathalia’® and Roselily ‘Thalita’® varieties.

Founded in 1970 in De Lier, Netherlands, Moerman Lilium is run by Jaap Moerman and his brothers Jan and Paul. The company grows 6ha of lilies under glass of which 5.5ha is in use for OT hybrids and orientals, while the remaining 5,000m2 is dedicated to the Roselily. The Moerman lily

company differentiates itself in the marketplace by growing their flowers in a Cabrio greenhouse in which the whole roof can be opened. This allows for extremely sturdy stems and boldly coloured premium quality lilies.

Commenting on this year’s FlowersExpo Award Jaap Moerman said, “Roselily attracted a lot of florists and floral designers to our booth. They praised the attractiveness of its double blooms.

The absence of pollen makes Roselily the perfect wedding, funeral, design or home décor flower.” |||

by William Armellini

Miami

Agriflor 2014 (2) Agriflor Ecuador took centre stage in Quito from October 1-4. Total registration of 3,000 was well above that of the last edition of the show and it achieved the highest attendance in history. The show also set new records for exhibit space and number of exhibitors.

Ecuador’s leading flower trade show can look back on the biggest success in its 25-year history. Over 200 exhibiting companies and more than 3000 visiting buyers participated in this 3-day event and boosted the trade of fresh cut flowers to an all-time high. The fair was bigger, better and more complete in number of exhibiting growers.

During this year’s Agriflor in Quito, Ecuador, I embarked on a farm tour to visit a cross section of rose nurseries. It was a truly amazing experience.

An imperial orchid collection A relative newcomer to commercial pot plant production, Florious grows the extremely large-flowered premium Phalaenopsis Sogo Yudidian V3 (a bred from Taiwan) in a 15cm pot. Branding agency PrimaLabel helped the grower from Westland to differentiate himself on the marketplace by launching www. tsarine.nl with lots of storytelling and cross-sector marketing (including the French champagne maker Tsarine, the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg and the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, Russia) to build brand awareness.

To attract high end clients, Tsarine Phalaenopsis stands 70 to 100cm tall and comes with 2, 3 or even four flower spikes with flowers sometimes as big as 14cms.  |||

The traffic and roads in Quito are not for the faint-hearted. I visited a number of farms and one could surmise that the farms do not want to be found. Fortunately, our press bus had a guide to decipher the directions.

Left at the big tree and then follow the dirt road to the fork, go left past the grazing cows and you are there. However, once you get "there" you are not likely to see a company sign, just a gate with a guard. For security reasons the farms prefer to be obscure.... and they are.

Once you gain access, the fun begins and so does the exercise at over 7,000 feet'+ above sea level. Each farm appears more or less the same until you look closely. Some are absolutely beautiful, while others are super interesting; some are simply practical and some are just ordinary. Most are very engaged with their employees, their environment and their products.

All are worth your time to visit if you get the opportunity.

Finally, I was pleased to see larger boxes being packed and shipped. Over the past 10 years, the boxes have gotten smaller and smaller, making it easier to ship directly. But since the change in air freight rates, now based on volumetric weight, those paying the freight are looking for better pack size to reduce air space in the boxes.

William Armellini. Editor Flowersandcents.com williee@flowersandcents.com

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

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World News Netherlands Nominate an orchid industry leader for the coveted Klaas Schoone Memorial Award Do you know an orchid industry leader?

We are looking for a variety of orchid professionals that have made a difference in the industry for the 2015 Klaas Schoone Memorial Award. You can nominate yourself, or someone you know. The grand prize winner will take home â‚Ź10,000!

Endowed by orchid breeding company Floricultura and the Schoone family, the Klaas Schoone Memorial Award, which is presented every two years, commemorates the work of the late orchid aficionado Klaas Schoone, who passed way very suddenly at the age of 64, six years ago.

The 2015 nominee will be selected from nominations submitted from across the global orchid industry. The award recognises the important contributions of products, projects, people, firms and associations that promote and enhance the world orchid industry.

People of all ages, countries, abilities, different companies and organisations are encouraged to participate.

Commercial orchid growing started in the 1970s with cut and potted Cymbidium being a top seller. The early 1980s saw the arrival of Phalaenopsis which fuelled mass production of orchids, not only in the Netherlands but worldwide. Coming in so many colours, shapes and varieties, Phalaenopsis continues to rank among the world’s most important ornamental crops. Orchids continue to gain popularity among growers, traders and end consumers alike as less mainstream species such as Paphiopedilum, Cattleya, Dendrobium, Oncidium and Zygopethalum are entering the marketplace.

One of the orchid industry veterans is Floricultura (www.floricultura.nl ). Back in the 1960s, the company started importing, propagating ad growing tropical plants. Klaas Schoone was one of Floricultura’s customers and evolved into an exemplary producer of cut Phalaenopsis. There was a special chemistry between Klaas and Floricultura owner Jan Post. They got along wityh each other very well and eventually the Schoone company and Floricultura merged into the Floricultura company we know today.

Candidates for the award will be evaluated and selected by an independent jury, based on the attributes and accomplishments that reflect the entrepreneurship, determination and innovation evinced by Klaas Schoone.

This is your last chance to nominate a pioneer in the floral industry deserving to be honoured with the Klaas Schoone Memorial Award.

Deadline is December 31st, 2014. ||| For more details please visit www.ksmaward.com/ info@ksmaward.com Or write to: KSM AWARD Elsbroekerlaan 26 2182TC Hillegom

www.FloraCultureInternational.com | December 2014

Klaas Schoone was passionate about his job, loved to discover and learn new things and was always willing to share his knowledge and to collaborate with other people.

United States

Delaware Valley Floral Group acquires Montgomery Wholesale Florist, Inc. The Delaware Valley Floral Group (DVFG) has acquired Montgomery Wholesale Florist, located in Northborough, Massachusetts. DVFG acquired certain assets of the company through an asset purchase agreement completed on November 14, 2014.

Montgomery Wholesale Florist was formed in 1981 by the owners of the Montgomery Rose Company. Montgomery Wholesale has been serving professional florists in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The business will be consolidated into DVFlora, a division of DVFG. The customers of Montgomery Wholesale will be served from the DVFlora distribution center located in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Paul Johnson, President of Montgomery Wholesale, commented, “We are delighted that the members of our staff joining DVFlora will be working for a leader in the industry, a company that is growing and provides a bright future for our people and customers.” Ken Wilkins, DVFG’s VP of Business Development, commented: “Montgomery Wholesale has a solid reputation with New England Florists for excellent quality and service. We are pleased that all of the Montgomery salespeople will be joining DVFlora and working out of our Shrewsbury distribution center. This acquisition strengthens our commitment in the New England market. We have had great success adding wholesalers to our company and remain interested in further acquisition opportunities.”

Jack Chidester, DVFG’s CEO, stated: “Montgomery Wholesale is our sixth acquisition in recent years and our third in the New England market. Supported by our distribution centers in Cromwell and Shrewsbury, these acquisitions have enabled the company to substantially grow our New England business.”

DVFlora, a division of Delaware Valley Floral Group, for over 55 years has been providing professional florists with the finest in fresh cut flowers and greens, floral supplies, botanicals and gourmet.

The DVFlora market area includes the Mid-Atlantic and North East states, but the company also ships throughout the United States, as well as to Bermuda and the Caribbean. The company has the industry’s premier Internet presence through its e-commerce website www.dvflora.com. Delaware Valley Floral Group is one of the largest floral distribution companies in the United States.

The company has three operating divisions including DVFlora, FreshBlooms, and Flower Transfer Logistics. With corporate headquarters located in Sewell, New Jersey, the company also operates out of facilities in Edison, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; Cromwell, Connecticut; Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; Miami, Florida; and Oxnard, California. www.dvfloralgroup.com. |||

Floraculture International encourages the pursuit of joint activities in areas of mutual interest with national and international societies, companies and organizations.

Agreements have been reached between Floraculture International and leading growers and trade associations in 24 countries. This unique partnership includes a complimentary copy for each member of the registered associations. Floraculture International is proud to announce the cooperation with the following associations.

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Advertising Index COMPANY

PAGE WEBSITE

Corn Bak......................................................................... 32.....................................www.bromelia.com Danziger “Dan” Flower Farm..................................3 .....................................www.danziger.co.il Deliflor...............................................................................6.............................................. www.defliflor.nl Dutch Lily Days........................................................... 44............................www.dutchlilydays.com Flora Co., Ltd. ............................................................... 14........................................www.HB-101.co.jp Florasearch Inc............................................................ 41................................ www.florasearch.com Floricultura B.V..............................................................6..................................www.floricultura.com Flowers & Cents.......................................................... 42.......................www.flowersandcents.org.

Fynbloem........................................................................6.............www.facebook.com/Fynbloem Jiffy Products International.................................. 20...................................www.jiffygroup.com

COMPANY

PAGE WEBSITE

M. van Veen.................................................................. 41............................www.mvanveenbv.com Market News Services............................................. 42............................. www.intracen.org/mns Messe Essen (IPM Essen)........................................ 32......................http://www.ipm-essen.de/. ..............................................................................................................................................world-trade-fair/ Philips Lighting.............................................................2...............................www.philips.com/horti Stal & Plast A/S............................................................ 41.......................................www.staal-plast.dk Thierry Richez.............................................................. 41 TOGA (TIOS 2015)..................................................... 43..........................................www.tios.com.tw Vitroplus...........................................................................2............................................www.vitroplus.nl Young Flowers............................................................ 39...............................www.youngflowers.dk

This index is provided as a service to our readers.

The publisher does not assume responsibility for errors or omissions.

December 2014 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com

41

World News United Kingdom

AIPH and Union Fleurs launch International Statistics – Flowers and Plants 2014 International Statistics – Flowers and Plants 2014 is now available. The latest volume contains the current available data on the global production and trade of ornamental flowers and plants.

Published by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) in association with Union Fleurs, the International Flower Trade Association, International Statistics Flowers and Plants 2014 is the result of extensive research and data compiled by Leibniz University of Hannover.

This 62nd Volume of the Yearbook provides valuable data including: • Area production data from 46 countries with a detailed country breakdown for 36 countries including Canada, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,

Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA. • Product comparisons including fresh: Roses, Carnations, Orchids, Chrysanthemums, Lilies, Christmas trees and cut foliage.

• Sales and markets data featuring: Trade channels of cut flowers and pot plants, turnover of selected wholesale markets for flowers and plants, top selling cut flowers in wholesale markets and top selling pot plants in wholesale markets.

• External trade data including global import and export

values of fresh cut flowers and pot plants as well as data on ornamental horticultural products, flower bulbs, fresh cut flowers, treated cut flowers, foliage and ornamental plants.

Its 174 pages of research are presented as an easy to use, illustrated PDF containing tables, diagrams and maps. Trade data is also made available through Excel spreadsheets.

AIPH Secretary General, Tim Briercliffe, said “International Statistics Flowers and Plants 2014 is a valuable resource for those working in

the market for flowers and plants.

This latest edition has several new elements including additional pages of content, questionnaire heat maps, production data for new countries such as Australia, Brazil and Ethiopia, new country pages with maps for Canada, USA, India, Ecuador and Turkey, and additional country export data for South Korea.”

International Statistics Flowers and Plants 2014 costs only EUR 110.00 (plus VAT where applicable). For information on how to purchase your copy visit www.aiph.org |||

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