AVBS Wins Best Large Stand Award at Belgium’s Iconic Floralies of Ghent

The team of AVBS – the Belgian Association of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Industries – was  delighted to be recognised for their visually striking and innovative stand, winning the title of Best Stand at the 2026 Floralies of Ghent.

The event, opened by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium on 30 April and running until 10 May, is more than an ordinary flower show. It’s a cultural institution, steeped in tradition, prestige, Burgandian lifestyle, and a quintessentially Flemish sense of design and aesthetics.

A careful balance of green, silver and white plants set in a gently undulating landscape.

Wouter François (Buitenburo) and Kris Van Cauter (Pure Garden), the designers of the award-winning AVBS stand opted for attention to detail, connection, romantism and a careful balance of green, silver and white plants set in a gently undulating landscape.

This year’s Floralies are ‘Powered by Connection’ and according the jury the AVBS stand really brought this theme to life, showcasing arches and woven structures by willow artist Jean Louis Muller.

AVBS chairman and evergreen shrub specialist, Erik Boterdaele said the award was testament to the excellent teamwork between fifty florists, tree growers and cut flower producers.

“We’d like to thank all of our partners for their hard work, dedication and unwavering support and belief in the Floralies’ mission. In a joint effort, we have managed to put Flanders’ ornamental horticulture at the forefront of the international stage.”

The 37e edition of the Floralies recognised more excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievements in Flanders’ horticultural industry. Azalea japonica growers Koen Van Hecke and Sabine Blancquaert, for example, won Best Shrub in Show.

The Floralies of Ghent is the ultimate showcase of Flemish flowers and plants, promoting a sector that, together with the region’s landscaping industry, directly employs 15,900 people.

The self-governing Flanders Region includes the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Limburg, Flemish Brabant, and West Flanders. Ornamental horticulture geographically concentrates in East Flanders, with Wetteren and Lochristi serving as centres of nursery stock and flowering pot plant production, particularly azalea. In the province of Antwerp, nursery stock and potted plant growers are more scattered.

Willow arch by Jean Louis Muller.

Flanders’ most recent statistics report indicates that around 5,800 hectares are dedicated to ornamental horticulture. For perspective, the total agricultural area of Flanders is 619,600 hectares, meaning less than one per cent of this region is used to grow ornamentals.

The greenhouse area used for ornamental horticulture is 500 hectares, although most ornamental plants and nursery stock are grown outdoors, either field-grown or container-grown. An increasing proportion of hardy nursery stock is grown in containers, allowing growers to bring trees to market more quickly compared with traditional balled-and-burlapped trees. Containerised production also results in lighter, easier-to-harvest, pack, and dispatch plants.

The Floralies of Ghent, also known as the Ghent Flower Show, has become such an important fixture in the calendar of Flanders’ flower and plant professionals, that it difficult to imagine their industry without it.

The seeds for the Floralies were sown in the early 19^th century when, during a trip to the UK, a group of Flemish plant growers took inspiration from the flower shows they attended.

Once home, they also wanted have a flower show to boost the sales of their flowers and plants.  The rest is history.  The first, what was back then called ‘Horticulture Salon’,  opened its doors in 1809 in the Auberge Au Jardin de Frascati, a city inn.

The history books mention the name Floralies of Ghent for the first time in 1874. Forty years later, the flower show moved to Ghent’s Citadel Park where it occupied the Floralies Palace, which Oscar van de Voorde designed for the 1913 Ghent World Exhibition.

In 1990, Ghent Expo, situated in the greater Ghent area, became the Floralies’ new home. It stayed there until 2016.  That same year, the iconic event returned to city centre, the place where it started 217 years ago.

Following its 2010 edition, featuring a four hectare indoor garden at Flanders Expo, a newly-appointed board of directors concluded that it was time for change.

A team of professionals including growers, florists, plant breeders, architects, interior designers and event planners gathered around the table. Their goal was ambitious: bring 4ha of indoor gardens to Ghent’s inner city but not just by copying and pasting what visitors had previously seen in Ghent Expo.

Eventually, the 2016 flower show branched out to different districts: Bijloke, Leopold Barracks, Saint Peter’s Square and the Citadel Park – all four within a 4km radius.

The 2021 Floralies was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, one year later, the 2022 Floralies of Ghent ran from 29 April until 8 May at the Ghent International Convention Center (ICC), the Floraliën hall and the Kuipke velodrome, all sitting in the grounds of the Citadel Park.

This year, the venue for the ticketed event has remained unchanged with treating visitors to a giant indoor garden. It is  filled with flowers, plants, shrubs, trees and garden scenes plus and a host of gardening talks and demonstrations, hands-on activities for all ages, special events, a sprawling plant market and so much more.

For more information visit www.floralien.be