Indoor Plant-Hunting!

Anyone who’s serious about horticultural developments usually spends the last week of January in Germany, for the international IPM Essen trade show.

As every year, the show was buzzing and frantic. I submitted to a diet of pretzels, frikadel and currywurst and hunched forth to navigate a total of 12 halls throughout the week. More than ever, we all seemed to get in each other’s way, thanks to the use of iPhones blended with visitors agog at the fantastic plant displays. There were lots of sharp European haircuts too; the slicked back under cut was the most popular.

But, on to the plants…

Upon visiting the press office, the various sheets of A4 told me about the various themes of the show, including.. err.. cemetery plants. Well, I set out hunting for myself, minus the crocodile dundee hat! This is indoor plant hunting!

Well, I’m not going to show you everything (you never know who’s watching!), but I’m sure we can affords a few teasers… such as these beautiful Italian Ranunculus!

I usually set up far too many meetings, and frantically dash from one end of the hall to the other, and fill the time in between scouring stands for new products, but also chatting, connecting, networking.. finding out about the things that aren’t on display..!

Just check out this rosebud poinsettia…

And, I was excited to see that our Geranium ‘Bermuda’ won best in show! This new Regal Geranium is suitable for summer pots, and changes the face of Geraniums, available in pink, salmon and metallic red!