To beautify, to heal, to provide oxygen, to give life or to take it away – such is the awesome power of the plant kingdom. You will never see more different species of it in one place than at the Gentse Floraliën. Although they won’t be piercing any prisoners, they will have a display of the fastgrowing bamboo. (Outside of the tropics, though, they only grow about half a metre a day.)
You’ll also see floral art installations that are taller than you, a cloud of fuchsias above, ornamental flower carpets below, native birds from Australia, ancient cacti from Monaco and a giant dinosaur carved from shrubbery.
Taking up several halls of Flanders Expo, Ghent’s Floraliën is the largest indoor floral exhibition in the world, and it only happens every five years. It has become the most important event on the calendar for many horticulturalists worldwide. They come to network and make deals – and to show off flowers and plants they’ve been meticulously cultivating for months or even years. Because the Floraliën is also a competition, with cash prizes.
But this is no dull affair of potted plants on tables. At the Floraliën, flowers and plants – more than 500,000 varieties – are part of a fantasy walking tour. Every region attending – from Italy to South Africa to China – must build a full garden. Belgium boasts regional azaleas, hydrangeas and begonias, while others put their traditional or best-looking petals of the year up for show. Horticulturalists with the most business to do – such as Australia, the US, China and Canada – don’t want to miss it. You skip one Floraliën, and you’ve put a whole decade in-between visits.
Australia, in fact, shines at Floraliën. The country distinguished itself five years ago with the Wollemia Nobilis, a conifer tree thought extinct until a few were found southwest of Sydney. This year it is working with Parc Paira Daiso near Mons to import several species of native birds, who will reside in a giant birdhouse within the Australian garden. The path leads visitors straight through the bird sanctuary.
If an indoor garden puts you off somewhat off, consider that, at Floraliën, every flower is in bloom. That includes those that should be finished by now and those that aren’t expected until August. Horticulturalists have spent a year conditioning the flowers to bloom right now, tricking them into thinking it’s their turn. Put them outside, and many of those blossoms wouldn’t make it through the week.
The art of the flower
Gardening itself might be an art, but Floraliën also hosts the “Black Box”, an exhibition of floral designers, including Belgium’s famous Daniel Ost and Gudrun Cottenier. A wholly different feel from the massive, colourful gardens, the large-scale designs are sometimes powerful, sometimes sensual. In the best works, they are both.
New this year to Floraliën is “Encadré” (Framed), a black box exhibition for young floral artists, who mount their installations within one-metre square frames. Also new, though not remotely a surprise in gastronomy-obsessed Flanders, are dining tables, set to perfection by some of the country’s finest chefs and decorated by their equals in the floral arts. The florists intertwine their organic wares so completely with the restaurant’s choice of decor that the table becomes almost like a vase or the soil where the plants naturally exist. Ten tables are set, including two by Belgium’s only triple-Michelin-starred restaurants, the Karmeliet and the Hof van Cleve.
Music, which Poland supplies, naturally accompanies dinner. Poland is celebrating the 200th birthday this year of Frédéric Chopin and has delivered seven grand pianos, which are spread throughout the walking tour. Pianists will play work by the Polish composer and master of Romantic music.
Floraliën is working on the younger crowd more and more, to ensure a strong future in the country for horticulturalists and flower artists. This year – another first – they paired horticulturalists with groups of school kids to design their own gardens. There is a competition, and the winning gardens will find a place at Floraliën.
Plenty of demonstrations take place at the nine-day event, including tree trimming, landscape architecture and fertilising techniques. A market impedes your exit from Floraliën, with all kinds of plants and products for sales and advice to offer.
All of this public entertainment and education is completely separate from the wheeling and dealing side of Floraliën, where some growers begin their international trade careers. This separation of public and sales is another element that makes Floraliën unique in the world.
From the pub to the Expo
Giedo Thiry of Floraliën attributes the event’s success to the fact that it has grown, pardon his expression, “organically”. With a history older than the country itself, “Floraliën developed through the many people working in horticulture in Ghent. It wasn’t something that had to be invented or created; it evolved. It has a very good foundation.”
In the mid 1770s, one Frans Van Cassel, a gardener from Ghent, began collecting exotic varieties of plants that he procured from English gardens. He soon had the largest collection in the area and became an expert at cultivation.
In 1808, he met with fellow gardeners to discuss procurement and cultivation techniques. Many gardeners worked for noblemen and together – skill combined with wealth – they formed the Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany and launched twice-yearly garden shows in Ghent. The first took place in 1809 in a pub of 48 square metres, with a bust of the emperor Napoleon presiding.
Needless to say, it grew. First to a few hundred plants, then to more than 1,000. Larger and larger spaces were sought, and in the 1830s the society built its very own building in the centre of Ghent and set the event for every five years. In 1839, the title Floraliën was bestowed. The organisation gained shareholders, of which King Leopold I was one.
By 1908, Floraliën has outgrown its home once again, and the Floraliën Palace was built in Citadel Park (in time for Ghent’s world’s fair in 1913). In 1990, the now 43,000 square-metre event had to move to Flanders Expo – the building in Citadel Park is now the International Congress Centre.
The Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany still organises the Floraliën, and it is still made up of both noblemen and gardeners – precisely half and half. King Albert II officially opens every Floraliën. More than 350,000 visitors are expected this year.
Just one tip: don’t turn your back on the bamboo.
Gentse Floraliën 2010
17-25 April
Flanders Expo
Maaltekouter 1, Ghent
www.floralien.be
For the 2005 Floraliën, Australia brought a Wollemia Nobilis, a rare conifer tree species three hundred million years old. This year, Monaco brings old, rare plants: a priceless cactus collection from its Jardin Exotique. The oldest-known cacti in the world, some are more than 100 years old. “And they are huge,” says Giedo Thiry of Floraliën. “They are not often allowed to leave Monaco and, in fact, this will be the last time. They are so old and rare that they don’t want to risk transporting them anymore.” One of the cacti, known locally as the “mother-in-law’s chair” is famously in the shape of a sofa. Each cactus had to be removed from its hillside home by crane for the trip to Flanders.
It’s easy to reach Flanders Expo by both car and public transport. Heading east or west on the E40, take the Flanders Expo exit. From Gent-Sint-Pieters train station, take tram 1 direction Flanders Expo. The NMBS has a Day Trip special that includes train, tram and entrance to the Floraliën.
4.5 hectares
of indoor garden, the largest in the world
22,000
cubic metres of soil used
5,000
trucks needed to haul in the soil. If you lined them up, they'd reach from Ghent to Zaventem
8
fountains
17
countries represented, including Kenya, Estonia and Thailand
700
staff needed to stage the event
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