F LO R I A D E E X P O 20 22
WORLD-CLASS H OUT; NEW ROUTE
Floriade opens in the Netherlands on 14 April 2022; the AIPH-approved A1 World Horticultural Expo will demonstrate to citizens how thriving in a ‘living library of trees and plants’ is more fun, sustainable
AUTHOR: RON VAN DER PLOEG PHOTO CREDITS: FEENSTRA FOTOGRAFIE
and healthier than surviving in a concrete jungle.
F
loriade is the brand name for this A1WWorld Horticultural Expo, which has occurred in the Netherlands every ten years since the first AIPH-approved Expo in Rotterdam in 1960. The 2022 Floriade site is in Almere, the Netherlands’ eighth-largest city inhabited by a young and fastgrowing multicultural population. The International Horticultural Expo site spans 62ha. The event aims to raise the profile of ornamental horticulture and highlight the importance of trees and plants in making better lives and creating better cities for the future. For Almere, this event is good news as, unfortunately, it is also a city that has experienced bad press in the past. In 2008, for example, a poll among the readers of a Dutch national newspaper crowned Almere as ‘the ugliest city of the Netherlands’, a message which British travel book writer Redmond O’Hanion commented upon ten years later.
DUTCH CALVINISM IS IMPEDING ‘BIG THINKING’ The negativity is not the kind of promotion the organiser and the Expo’s sole shareholder, the city of Almere, would have wished itself.
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FLORACULTURE INTERNATIONAL
JANUARY 2022
Floriade first has to overcome the harsh expectations from the Dutch popular press, tarnishing Floriade’s image. They are historically hostile, reporting endlessly on the 1992 Floriade Zoetermeer, the 2002 Floriade in Haarlemmermeer and the 2012 Floriade in Venlo incurring €5 million, €8million and €9 million losses, respectively. Adding to this are critical questions aimed at the current Floriade board – should it be double staffed, and should the CEO earn the same salary as a minister? These kinds of adverse reporting seem to be rooted in typical Dutch Calvinism, drowning in details and constantly calling for introspection, frugality and modesty.
