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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MARCH 2017
• IPM FLOWERS
IPM
2017
92% is the figure that the organisers of IPM2017were proud
to trumpet very shortly after the doors closed on the fourth and
final day of the giant trade show for ornamental horticulture.
92% of the 1,577 exhibitors had by then firmly decided to
return for the 36th IPM in January 2018. And92%, again, of a
large sample of the 57,000 visitors declared their intention to
be at the 2018 show.
IPM stands for International Plant Market. And international it
certainly is. This year, two thirds of the exhibitors came from
outsideGermany, and 36% of the visitors. Exhibitors came
from every continent. Among countries represented there
were PuertoRico, Ecuador and theUSA – fourteen exhibitors.
Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, India, China and Japan along
with every European country larger than Luxembourg.
The 15 exhibition halls together provide a display area of over
100,000 sq.m, ten hectares (for soccer fans, about fifteen
professional pitches).
Technological exhibits fill two halls, one of them the biggest
in the entire complex. Plants of all kinds – flower bulbs,
shrubs, cut flowers, bedding and patio plants, house plants,
herbaceous perennials and yet others – fill eight halls, and
account for around sixty percent of the total floor area.
British presence
Therewere 24British exhibitors, up from 21 two years
previously, and four from the IrishRepublic. Among themwere
nameswith an international reputation in specialist breeding
–DavidAustenRoses, theGuernseyClematisCompany,
Whetman Pinks and Fairweather’sNursery (especially for
lavenders).
Many of these exhibitorswere long-time participants as IPM
exhibitors. RaymondEvison of GuernseyClematiswas among
them, for the reason - in his ownwords tome - that he
finds IPM ‘the best trade show of all’. His neighbour on the
British pavilionwas PPC Labels, there for the ninth year. The
company’sCatherine Pilling describedbusiness this year as
‘very good’. And theword on the stand of first-time exhibitor
Pot lilyTiny Invader imaginatively stagedbyWetering
Potlilium.
Dragon’sBreath, anewcelosia fromSakata.
