The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) members consist of thousands of growers of flowers and ornamental plants around the world who are together united by one essential goal – promoting the place of plants in people’s lives.
AIPH is responsible for approving the world’s most exceptional horticultural expos creating long lasting green legacies in cities across the globe.
AIPH Blooming Economies & Cities to Inspire The World 2.0. Up-to-date statistics from recent Expos hosted in Asia and Europe.
Learn moreAIPH hosts several conferences, webinars and events such as the International Grower of the Year award throughout the year. Read about these along with the latest news about the association’s activities.
The AIPH International Grower of the Year Awards celebrate the best of the best in ornamental horticulture
Learn moreAIPH’s key aim is to stimulate demand for ornamental trees, plants and flowers worldwide. We are committed to supporting growers in achieving this by protecting and promoting the interests of the industry.
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The report contains insights on production and consumption of the floriculture industry in Thailand, imports and exports, and business opportunities
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FlowerTrials, the annual open days for the global bedding plant industry, was back in bloom from 11-14 June 2024, attracting 5,300 green professionals. Interest in the event is stable, with this year’s attendance five per cent up from 2023. Chapter three of FCI’s FlowerTrials coverage focuses on Benary, Florensis, Takii, and Hem Genetics.
From young plant producers and growers over wholesalers and retailers to green marketing experts and suppliers, industry professionals working with pot and bedding plants from over 80 countries gathered to seek inspiration for future assortments and discover the latest trends in what is Europe’s biggest pre-summer bedding plants showcase.
FlowerTrials members are already looking forward to opening their doors again next year in week 24 to meet with all those interested in ornamental horticulture. Mark 10th to 13th June 2025 in your diary now.
This year, Benary celebrates 81 years in the seed business, during which time it has strongly maintained its innovation promise.
True blue in gardening is beautiful but rare, but Lobelia is a go-to flower to add a unique and showy splash of ocean blue colour to borders and patio pots.
New is Benary’s Lobelia erinus ‘Blue with Eye’, the first Lobelia F1 hybrid. It is also the first member of what is meant to become a Masterpiece series with additional colours in the pipeline for the 2025/2026 season. They should compete with Westhoff’s vegetatively propagated and heat-tolerant Lobelias.
Trailing and silvery/heart-shaped leaved Dichondras are beautiful hanging basket plants, with the seed Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Surfer’ being a welcome addition to the existing assortment for various reasons. First, seeds have undergone a BeGreen treatment, chemical and micro-plastics-free priming and pelleting. The advanced ApeX technology is used to ‘break’ the sometimes-deep sleep of seeds and ensure optimum germination.
ApeX-treated seeds are claimed to germinate much faster and increase overall seed quality. According to Benary, ApeX increases young plant yields by up to 30 per cent.
Also very prominently displayed were Benary’s latest additions to its successful Non-Stop series, the benchmark in Begonia tuber hybrids F1. Non-Stop is synonymous with fully filled, up to 10cm large flowers and outstanding uniformity across all varieties.
New is Benary’s double-flowered Non-Stop ‘Peach Shades’, which should compete with ‘Limitless Sorbet’ and ‘Sunrise’ from Syngenta. These three cultivars have an upright stature and gorgeous flowers in soft pink-orange with touches of pale yellow and peach. Other Non-Stop additions include ‘Lemon’ in bright yellow and ‘Flame’ with a more pronounced flower pattern thanks to more vivid red.
To conclude, the seed Eucalyptus globulus F1 Styx adds volume, texture, and whimsey to combo planters. It has large, green, bluish foliage, a compact stature, and high germination rates.
There were celebrations all around Florensis this year as the 83-year-old family business, which specialises in plant breeding and propagation, won this year’s FleuroStar award with Dahlia Dalina® ‘Maxi Starburst Pink’.
Fleurostar is an annual contest, held in conjunction with FlowerTrials, that recognises the bedding plant as best able to create the wow effect at the point of sale.
The Fleurostar Awards ceremony occurred on 13 June at the Selecta One FlowerTrials location in De Lier, the Netherlands. Plant influencer Michael Perry, aka ‘Mr Plant Geek’, moderated the well-attended event.
Approximately 140 guests representing a cross-section of ornamental horticulture witnessed how Florensis’ Dahlia Dalina ‘Maxi Starburst Pink’ battled it out against a remarkably strong competition, including Calibrachoa MiniFamous ‘Uno Bakari’ from Selecta One, Dahlia ‘Hypnotica Candy Corn’ from Dümmen Orange, Petunia ‘Painted Love Purple’ from Syngenta Flowers and Osteospermum ‘Sunny Klaudia’ from Beekenkamp Plants.
Though Syngenta’s Petunia and Selecta One’s Calibrachoa left a lasting impression, Dahlia Dalina ‘Maxi Starburst Pink’ rightly deserved to win as its two-toned petals and anemone-like radiant flowers will easily amaze and delight end consumers. The award-winning cultivar Dahlia can be combined with other colours from the series for additional sales appeal.
Fleuroselect’s president and secretary general, Marc Driessen and Ann Jennen, respectively presented the Fleurostar 2024-2025 award to Florensis’ Marjolein Kuyucu-Lodder, international trade marketeer and Hagen Kalläne, European sales manager.
Over 25 professionals in production, trade, retail, and trade press (including FCI magazine) evaluated each entry on the point-of-sale attractiveness and commercial potential.
Jury members include representatives of Blume 2000 (Germany), Intratuin (NL), the Newey Group (UK), Waterdrinker (NL), Royal Lemkes (NL), Gärtner Poetschke (Germany), Royal FloraHolland (NL), Viridea Garden Centre Group (Italy), Groupe Végétal (France), Nowacka (Poland) and IPL Asda (UK).
The award-winning ‘Maxi Starburst Pink’ joins the Dahlia Dalina Maxi series, which is synonymous with excellent performance in production. It creates a uniformly branched plant that remains relatively compact in two to three-litre pots. The variety allows for high-density growing and is ideal for fitting onto Danish trolleys.
Multiplied through tissue culture, Heuchera villosa ‘Hip Hip Hooray’ is also a celebration in the garden. Traditionally, Heuchera produces small bunches of relatively insignificant flowers. Not so for this new cultivar that features masses of airy flowers in soft red. It is claimed to provide exceptionally strong flower power in the garden until autumn and is perfect to drive impulse sales at retail.
An additional bonus is that the plant does not require vernalisation, with flowers appearing within 12 weeks in the first year of cultivation.
Hem Genetics is a family business based in the tiny town of Hem, near Enkhuizen, the Netherlands. The seed company has continued to blossom for over a century.
As part of Hem Group, Hem Genetics has an unstained reputation because in 2018 -when the company celebrated its centennial – King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands granted a royal warrant as a mark of royal recognition.
The company deserves credit for being aware, engaged and concerned about environmental issues since its establishment in 1995, before the term ‘sustainability’ was widely used.
It is well known for its natural dwarf varieties, aka ‘low grows’, which do not need PGRs. The world’s first naturally dwarf petunias, Limbo and Mambo, for example, may well be considered the standard-bearer of sustainability in seed-raised bedding plants.
Living up to the genetically compact bedding promise is the all-new Petunia Shake F1 series, touted as a real colour breakthrough.
Their flower size sits between grandiflora and multiflora types. Apart from their compact growth habit, standing out prominently are the blooms that come in a spectrum of hues that include muted earth tones, pastel washes, and saturated, almost mystical colours. We want to tout Shake as the world’s first-ever vintage Petunia, which comes in three exciting flavours: Shake Raspberry, Strawberry, and Blueberry.
A prominent spot had also been reserved for DoubleShot, a series of tall garden F1 snapdragons with filled flowers that raise above strong and heavily branched plants.
Their sturdy flower stems make them wind-resistant all through the growing season. Standing 60 cm tall, DoubleShot snapdragons add colour and dimension to garden beds and containers.
Exhibiting at the Breeders Boulevard in De Kwakel, Takii showcased the latest additions to Canna Cannova, the first-ever series of F1 hybrid Canna series.
In the series’ dark leaf segment, Bronze Scarlet and Bronze Orange are now in good company with Bronze Peach.
Other Cannova crowd pleasers included Gold Leopard, which features sunny yellow and orange speckled blooms that rise above lush green foliage, and Canna Cannova Orange Gold Flame.
In Zinnia elegans, Takii reserved a prominent spot for its Preciosa series, which includes eight colours. Compared with the company’s Dreamland series, Preciosa’s bonus is its full double flowers and compact, well-branched stature. Both Preciosa and Dreamland include a true red variety.
Belize and Belize Double are two Zinnia elegans series prized for their compactness, branching habit and masses of blooms. The plants maintain their dome-like shape with robust branching from the lower node.
Takii is a market leader in F1 sunflower (Helianthus annuus) breeding for cutting. The dedication and innovative approach, as seen in cut Helianthus, also applies to the company’s line of pot Helianthus.
In pot-type sunflowers, the F1 hybrid Smiley series represents the top brand, a trustworthy, compact, uniform, speedy, and disease-resistant product that gives growers and retailers a competitive advantage.
