France: Salon du Végétal 2016 goes with the urban gardening trend
Le Salon du Végétal is the annual French parade of new plant products for breeders, growers, landscape architects, florists and garden centres. The fair attracted 12,366 visitors through its doors, which were open from February 16 to 18. The overwhelmingly French public consisted of producers (28%), garden contractors (26%), young plant producers (23%) and retailers (23%).
Urban gardening
The theme of this 31st Salon was 'Gardens in towns'. The centrepiece was a professional urban garden spread over 300 m2. It included tips on what to take into account when creating urban gardens. Plus Le Coin Jardin presented its vision of the garden of the future: micro-gardening by private individuals.
Emotion instead of price
The French horticultural sector is also trying to polish its image and reach out more to younger consumers. That aim was highly visible during Le Salon du Végétal. The emphasis lay on emotion instead of price, in the hope of turning arund the falling sales figures. The French umbrella organisation Val'Hor is starting a national advertisement campaign in May to specifically address teenagers and young adults with the slogan 'Mission: Végétal'. In the next 3 years the French public (especially young people) will be shown 90 mini-documentaries about growers, florists and other professionals from the sector. Thirty of them will be cast during the Salon.
Source: www.royalfloraholland.com
