At the end of April 2020, the World Garden Show was officially held in Flora-Haining International, bringing people the beauty and comfort of gardening. The show was held on an area of 55,000 square meters.
Flowers as a medium to connect the world
With the theme of “focusing on garden economy, leading a healthy life”, a forum was live broadcasted via the internet.
Throughout April, the audience could see 16 horticultural experts from all over the world brought together in webinar with the joint effort of Hongyue Horticultural Corporation and China Flower & Gardening News. They were from Ball Horticultural Company, Giethoorn, David Austin Roses, Benary, Floricultura, Selecta One, Three Trees Garden, etc.
Among them, Ms. Gaby, ambassador of Giethoorn, which is a well-known holiday resort in the Netherlands, shared the development of Giethoorn.
Jason Hough, President of the Asia Pacific Region for the Ball Horticultural Company, talked about how to bring the best from the west to the east. During the speech he introduced the brand, the plants and application of the group, and explained how Ball closes the relationship between human and plants, how they move the plants to the urban life, how to handle the logistics of online delivery and how to excite consumers through innovations.
Taipei Zhang is the host of Three Trees Garden, which is regarded as one of the most splendid private gardens in China with 5000 square meters. The name of the garden came from three trees of hundred years in there and Mr. Zhang has worked there for 18 years to design it with the guidance of respecting nature. By using wasted bricks, stone and timber, he recreated a wonderland with the cost of 10000 yuan [1400 USD].
Meanwhile, a small-scale forum was held offline and live broadcasted on three platforms of Hongyue Horticultural Corporation, China Flower & Gardening News, and Yuan Lin Hui. The host of Gardeners’ World on BBC, Joe Swift, and Australian designer Philip Withers completed this special speech via cloud technology. Joe Swift reviewed his career as a designer and media person and explained the close relationship between gardening and media; Philip Withers shared his design concepts and styles of adapting to and integrating nature.
At the forum, the president of Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University (ZAFU) analyzed China’s promising gardening industry and the future trend of win-win cooperation. The honorary dean of ZAFU interpreted the concept of landscape construction from industry development, landscape value and theme landscape construction. The president of Hongyue Horticulture Co. Ltd. illustrated the chain reaction of products, retail and market in the garden economy with the story of clematis. Industrial Internet Research Center of Yangtze Delta Region Research Institute of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang, provided new ideas for the development of the gardening industry.
Distinguished guests elaborated on all aspects of the gardening industry and brought forward advanced interpretation of its future under the study of big data. The form of live broadcast allowed everyone to participate in the discussion.
Beauty knocking at your door
The World Garden Show canceled its indoor exhibition and carried out strict measures for epidemic prevention and control.
Even so, the garden covered 55,000 square meters; visitors were still passionate about more than 30 merchant gardens, more than 20 gardens of domestic promising designers, 3 gardens of international designers and 400+ works of hanging basket florists.
Creative and romantic international gardens were customized for the Show and the construction was remotely guided by the gold medal winner of the Chelsea Flower Show, James Basson, “one of the UK’s most exciting young garden designers”, Matt Keightley, and the master of rose garden making, Alistair W Baldwin online.
Similarly, promising designers in China represented the advanced level and internationalization of garden designing with their interpretation and presentation of Chinese neo-Zhejiang Style, Japanese gardens and Western flower borders.
Led by Takii, Benary, Sakata, and Beijing Florascape Co., Ltd., with other merchants’ eye-pleasing garden-style booths, the merchant gardens depicted a series of creative carpet beds and launched new-to-market varieties.
For people unable to visit the site due to various reasons, the World Garden Show invited influential celebrities to display the exhibition on China’s top platforms of video, livestream and shopping. VR technology was also adopted to offer an immersive experience to the audience.
The rising power of Chinese horticulture
The success of the World Garden Show reflects the unpredictable power of Chinese horticulture as an emerging international force. The epidemic has brought challenges and great opportunities to China’s horticultural market.
The first booster is the mature Internet industry. People’s instinct to nature, beauty, and health continues; while online consumption makes it convenient to make the garden dream come true. During the spring of 2020, sales of live streaming marketing went straight up. The online and offline markets cooperated to promote the steady growth of China’s horticultural market. It is predicted that the household market in China will reach a trillion-yuan consumption volume. The clarion call of the garden economy has already sounded.
Another booster lies in the stable market environment: the gardening pioneers’ persistence in exploring the beautiful garden life; the World Garden Show’s selection of new and fine varieties, and constant invitation of garden designers for the benefit of consumers and the market; Chinese government’s support for ecological industry.
The industrial upgrading and the advent of the garden economy era have spurred the World Garden Show to launch in China and demonstrated the arising horticultural market demands.
For more information:
Hongyue
www.hongyue.com