Dutch tulips showcased at Hong Kong Flower Show

Hong Kong Flower Show 2017 is held from 10 to 19 March 2017 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. This is an annual major event organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) of Hong Kong SAR government, to promote horticulture and the awareness of greening to the public. With “Blossoms of Love” and the adorable “Rose” as its theme and theme flower respectively, the Hong Kong Flower Show 2017 projects Hong Kong as a beautiful city where love is in the air. Featuring “Rose” as the theme flower, the event showcases this exquisite plant and a rich profusion of exquisite potted plants, beautiful floral arrangements and gorgeous landscape displays by organizations from local, the Mainland and overseas. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust is the major sponsor of this year's flower show. A commercial zone is reserved for selling flowers and other horticultural products, as well as local flavor snacks. By official estimation, the Show will receive at least 500,000 visitors this year.

by Robbie Wang, Agricultural Officer

Different from most of horticulture EXPOs, Hong Kong Flower Show is a non-commercial event. Consulate General of the Netherlands was invited by LCSD to participate in this event as previously, since the Dutch flowers and horticulture are worldwide well-known and very much appreciated by Hong Kong citizens. Consulate General of Indonesia, Philippines and Pakistan also participated in this event as foreign government organizations in Hong Kong. As a tradition, the agricultural department honorably took this mission from CG HON to arrange the floral display at this event. LCSD provided an area of 5mx8m for free in the display zone of overseas organizations, and also some gardening materials such as peat moss, turf, wood chips, etc. All expenses of the display are paid by the annual budget of PEK-LNV and BPA budget of CG HON. Therefore the participation of this event can be deemed as the public diplomacy to LCSD for the social welfare of Hong Kong citizens. As the budgets of LNV and CG HON for this event are limited, we also called for the sponsorship from 15 companies since September 2016. In the end 3 companies sponsored this event with cash or products. Rabobank International is the loyal sponsor of Hong Kong Flower Show for consecutive years.

All photos by Robbie Wang

In our floral display, we are presenting the national flower, tulips from the Netherlands (purchased from FLUWEL), and the mini pot plant roses, in different colors (sponsored by Schreurs China and their partner companies), which are perfectly matching the theme of “Blossoms of Love” and the adorable “Rose”, and mingle the Dutch design elements into the display. Our design is inspirited with 3D and sense of space: 6 wood frames with nets symmetrically stand on both sides of the axis of the stand. Tulip bulbs covered with sphagnum are attached up to the nets and planted into 6 hanging pots with diameter 80cm in different heights, surface decorated also with sphagnum. Some of the rose pots are planted into smaller sphagnum wrapped balls and hanging around the frame and among the suspended tulips, most of the roses are set on the floor in the middle of the display. On each side of the display floor, we placed the clusters of tulips and roses staggeredly and surrounded by wood chips. We also installed additional lights decoration on the ceiling, to light up the display from the top and make sure the audience can appreciate all the flowers from different angels, also create more dimensional sense for the whole display.

The entire display is presenting the Dutch signature flowers combining with creative Dutch design to Hong Kong citizens. During the past days of the show, our display has been always fully surrounded by audience. They took pictures for the flowers with their phones or cameras, appreciated and praised. As a tradition, our Holland display always won a prize back in each year. No disappointment in 2017, we gained the Gold Award for Design Excellence.

The official opening ceremony was held on 10th March, Consul-General Annemieke Ruigrok and Agricultural Counsellor Martin Oldemonnikhof attended the ceremony as VIPs. Mr. LAU Kong-wah, Secretary for Civil Affairs, Mrs. Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee, the wife of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, and TVB Miss Hong Kong 2017 etc., were the officiating guests on the stage and participated the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The prize presentation ceremony was held on 12th March. Agricultural Counsellor received the trophy on behalf of Consulate General of the Netherlands.

During the show period, a rich diversity of educational and recreational fringe activities are also organized by LCSD for the enjoyment of visitors in different ages, such as student drawing competition, photography competition, exhibit competition, music and cultural performances, floral art demonstrations, greening activities workshops, recreation programs and fun games etc.

The Netherlands is the absolute horticulture leading country in the world and also the second largest supplier of the Hong Kong flower market. In general, Hong Kong Flower Show is a good platform to promote the Holland image and showcase the quality flowers from the Netherlands to Hong Kong citizens. Due to the non-commercial restriction and the visitors’ composition, the direct economic benefit from this show will not comparable to other horticulture EXPOs or professional events. TVB (Television Broadcasts Limited) is the media partner of Flower Show.

Source: Agroberichten Buitenland