GROEN-Direk tkicked off its 25th anniversary at its Autumn Fair on 25 and 26 August. In addition to a huge range of more than 5,500 unique batches, an exclusive presentation of Christmas trees and 100 stands manned by growers, Europe’s largest green market offered its visitors several innovations, such as the introduction of a Spring Range, a new form of fair presentation, an inspection of novelties together with the Dutch Nursery Trade Fair Foundation and various special anniversary activities.
This Autumn Fair was a wonderful opportunity for anyone active in the green sector to meet one another, and underlined the company’s ‘Growing Together’ anniversary slogan.
Huge range and positive atmosphere
This year, GROEN-Direkt once again presented a comprehensive, unique late summer and autumn range at its Autumn Fair and webshop. And as in previous years, this was an ideal opportunity for visitors to see, feel and smell the entire range of Christmas trees in real life. The exclusive sample presentation comprised 120 different species/size combinations and associated hardware in an area of 2,000 m2.
The Christmas tree presentation and 5,500 unique batches certainly appealed to the more than 1,500 fair visitors. In spite of the COVID-19 measures, the visitors were very international in character, making the Autumn Fair not just a trade fair, but above all the place to be for anyone professionally involved in the green sector. Traders and buyers from within and outside the Netherlands who were unable to visit the fair found their way to the webshop. All this resulted in a successful anniversary fair characterised by a positive atmosphere and lots of personal contact.
New: Spring Range
New at this Autumn Fair was the Spring Range: a foretaste of what may be expected in the spring of 2022. Buyers were invited to reserve plants from the presented range physically or online during the anniversary fair, to be assured of a beautiful range next spring, while giving growers early insight into their spring sales. This is one of the ways in which GROEN-Direkt constantly responds to market developments so as to be able to offer their customers the very best service and quality.
Most popular novelties of 2021
At the special edition of its Autumn Fair, GROEN-Direkt presented twenty new batches at its Novelties Plaza. The sales figures show that Heuchera ‘Timeless Night’ was the most popular novelty. This year was also the first time that GROEN-Direkt hosted the official novelties inspection of the Stichting Vakbeurs voor de Boomkwekerij(Nursery Trade Fair Foundation). On the first day of the fair, the expert inspection committee of the Koninklijke Vereniging voor Boskoopse Culturen (KVBC: Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society) evaluated 27 batches and proclaimed Buddleia ‘Butterfly Candy Little Ruby’ the best novelty of 2021.
New form of fair presentation
GROEN-Direkt also introduced a new form of fair presentation: after 25 years of loyal service the company’s characteristic layers have given way to attractive presentation benches whose greater height make it easier for fair visitors to inspect the plants in their entirety. Besides being attractive, this new form of fair presentation means that the presented plants retain their good quality for longer because they can now be watered.
Start of anniversary year: GREEN Education Fund
And of course plenty of attention was also paid to the start of the anniversary year, for example with a special trolley whose proceeds will be invested in supporting education and knowhow in the nurseries and ornamental plants sectors. Under the heading of ‘GREEN Education Fund’, GROEN-Direkt is going to actively commit itself to promoting green education, from primary schools to universities. In the context of its 25th anniversary, GROEN-Direkt is donating a start-up capital of € 25,000 to the GREEN Education Fund to create a sound basis for a green future. Let’s keep on Growing Together!