Henk de Jong - Dutch Embassy, Tim Briercliffe - HTA, John Hiorns - Crocus, Carl Schousten - Flower Council, Sam Bosworth - Bosworths Garden Centre and Choice Marketing Group, Helen Evans - New Covent Garden.
Happy people everywhere, including the Garden Industry Trade Mission to Holland, at the Keukenhof where the tulips have just started to bloom. The positive effects of sunshine and glorious swathes of colour created by the blooming bulbs was just what the organisers of the 64th annual opening of the bulb gardens intended. Their objective is for visitors to enjoy the flowers of Holland and for them to leave happy.
The UK Garden Trade Mission, orgainsed by the Dutch Embassy and The Flower Council, certainly left the gardens in happy mood with plenty of inspiration as to how bold displays of bulbs in flower can inspire people to garden. They were among the 20,000 visitors to the garden last Wednesday.
Over the 2 months that the Keukenhof is open (until 20th May 2013) 800,000 people will visit and be inspired by the flower displays. Next year the gardens will be open from 20th March 2014 until 18th May 2014. If you get the chance to send your bulb sales team over for a visit they will get buckets of unbounded enthusiasm for the product they sell and they will come back with plenty of great bulb flower images to use in your point of sale.
According to the garden designer at the Keukenhof, next years colour trends are big contrasts of bold colours "more 70's", that will be well worth seeing.
The team at the Keukenhof are so positive about their gardens being a happy place even the catering staff promote happiness from the food too!
Having been wowed by the bulbs in flower the Trade Mission then visited bulb grower and exporter JAC. Uittenbogaard & Zone BV, known as JUB. This 4th generation family business is having good success across Europe making bulbs an impulse purchase, "more gift - more presentations." Part of this is driven from their landscape planting division, taking combinations they plant and creating consumer combinations with smart gift like merchandising. See photo gallery below for examples.
