IPM Essen attendance declines 9%

This year’s 40th IPM Essen show occurred in Essen, Germany, between 23 and 26 January 2024. It featured 1,403 exhibitors from 43 countries on a show floor spanning 100,000m² across ten adjoining halls. More than 36,000 attendees experienced a state-of-the-art showcase of houseplants, cut flowers, annuals, perennials, seeds, young plants, trees, shrubs, agtech, machinery, and everything in between.

This remarkable achievement reflects the event’s fresh content, new show features, quality vendors and visitors, top-notch educational programme, fun factor, and orderly management.

The visitors’ interest centred on plants (70 per cent), followed by technology (32 per cent), floriculture (30 per cent), and sales promotion (22 per cent).

Yet, all was not rosy in Essen, with 579,000 inhabitants. It is the fourth-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Dortmund.

Beekenkamp’s stand celebrated the launch of Pericallis POP.

A nationwide record six-day train strike wreaked havoc on travel plans, including those of IPM-goers. Its knock-on effect on the show’s attendance figures was inevitable, with this year 4,000 visitors (-9 per cent) flocking to the gargantuan Messe Essen exhibition grounds.
In comparison, FCI archives indicate that only 16 years ago, IPM Essen welcomed 60,000 green professionals.

Issues with dropping attendance figures apply to basically all international mega-events that people attend from around the world. The reasons behind the slowdown are hard to pin down, but they aren’t simply about travel shutdowns, corporate spending policies, increasing show service and staff travel costs. Perhaps it’s still one of the pandemic’s ripple effects changing how people value their time and their willingness to take time out; perhaps younger generations of growers have entirely different expectations from a trade show. The bottom line is that very few trade shows will return to their record-breaking attendee numbers from yesteryear.

It was certainly not all doom and gloom for IPM Essen. Trade visitors evaluated the offerings of IPM ESSEN 2024 positively, with 87 per cent giving ratings of one to three. Ninety-one per cent would recommend attending, and an equal percentage expressed the intention to visit IPM ESSEN again. Among the exhibiting companies, the percentage was also high at 87 per cent.

Princess Benedikte, the aunt of Denmark’s newly crowned King, was guest of honour on day one when she dropped by the Danish Hall 8 to highlight the incredible achievement of her country’s green professionals.

At the same time, the buzz on site was quite electric, with an array of conferences, workshops, and festive events, mostly revolving around IPM Essen’s Ruby Jubilee. Princess Benedikte, the aunt of the newly installed King of Denmark, was a guest of honour on day one when she dropped by the Danish Hall 8 to highlight the incredible achievement of her country’s green professionals.

Setting the scene at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, 23 April, Jürgen Mertz, President of the Central Horticultural Association (ZVG), reminded how IPM Essen had been a hotbed for horticultural innovation for more than 40 years and how the show helped co-develop agtech, plant breeding, research and development. He also highlighted the role German horticulture plays in boosting people’s fitness and wellbeing and in mitigating climate change. He said, “We are part of the solution. However, the challenges our industry faces are significant, and therefore, we need strong, resilient, and future-proof horticultural businesses.”

With ‘challenges’, he referenced the carbon price in Germany, which has increased the bill for fuels such as petrol and diesel by several cents per litre since the beginning of 2021, the waning support for biomass plants, the planned cuts to tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture and horticulture, the pesticide cabinets which are emptying quickly under the EU’s Farm to Fork and Green Deal strategies, the mandatory Integrated Pest Management (IPM) anchored in EU legislation, and the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Mertz noted, “Over and over, politicians told us that they would be there to help our industry in the transition to net zero, reducing emissions as we switch to cleaner, cheaper energy. But little has remained of this in the current debate on cuts. Fortunately, the federal energy efficiency programme, which is so important for horticulture, has been retained. However, sufficient funding is essential to make the programme successful. All through the energy transition process, the economic viability of the companies must be carefully weighed. This is also a challenge for politics, that tends to be driven by ideology.”

Silke Gorißen, Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the federal state with the most horticultural businesses, told the audience that as she originates from the horticultural heartland, Kleve and feels connected with the industry. She ensured that as a CDU (Christian Democrats) politician, the sector could count on her support, highlighting the Fachkraft Offensive NRW, a campaign to attract and retain talented workers, notably in horticulture.

IPM Essen has long provided a chance for industry professionals to check in with their friends and competitors, to see who is still in business, who has moved on, what the market is doing, and to sample the sentiments in the sector.

Much of the discussions heard in IPM’s booths and aisles touched on issues such as over-powerful retailers profiting from relatively small growers, fewer and fewer students pursuing education and a career in horticulture, Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East crisis, market volatility, sky-high energy costs, mounting bureaucracy, high add on labour costs, and, last but not least sustainability.

Most growers agree that growing their plants and flowers more sustainably is something to strive for. But the paradox is that the massive farmer protests that recently engulfed large parts of Europe are also a sign that ‘this much is too much’. Farmers and growers alike increasingly feel that climate policies and environmental rules leave agricultural and horticultural livelihoods at risk. For example, a week before IPM’s opening, thousands of angry farmers blocked Berlin with their tractors. They protested over a plan to scrap breaks on diesel used in agriculture.

Jürgen Mertz, President of the Central Horticultural Association (ZVG), reminded the attendees how IPM Essen had been a hotbed for horticultural innovation for more than 40 years.

In yet another move to tackle climate change, the German government has announced new toll rates. Effective from 1 December 2023, there is a € 200 CO2 surcharge per ton of CO2 emitted by commercial vehicles, resulting in an additional charge of approximately 0.16 €/km. As a consequence, MAUT road tolls will increase significantly from 0.19 €/km to 0.35 €/km, depending on the truck’s emission class.

For the Netherlands, being the world’s largest flower exporter of cut flowers, houseplants, bulbs and nursery stock produce (around 600 wholesale companies generating an export value of €9,2 billion in 2018), the matter is of far-reaching consequence. A wholesaler in the country’s horticultural heartland, Westland, for example, will now have to pay as much as double the price to ship his flowers and plants to Germany.

A sizeable number of floral truckloads travel through Germany to reach customers in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. So, also here, the impact of higher toll rates will be significant.

There was also good news from Germany. Futurologist Max Thinius stressed how gardens benefit the health and well-being of people, improve the feeling of social cohesion and help tackle climate change. Therefore, halfway through 2023, the German government decided to allocate approximately €790 million in the framework of urban development funding 2023-2024.

This budget will be used to fund urban greenery projects and waterworks in cities across Germany. Moreover, politicians attending the 15th Association Congress of the Federal Association for Garden, Landscape and Sports Ground Construction (Bundesverband Garten-, Landschafts- und Sportplatzbau e. V.) in the summer of 2023 advocated for more urban greenery.

German cities, as a result, are expected to become greener and more climate resilient. Cities such as Munich, Berlin, and Trier are currently taking the lead by significantly expanding their tree-planting budgets. The potential is thus very large.

Best in IPM Show Awards

The Jury Special Mention Award went to Mangave ‘Praying Hands’, which was submitted by Cactusmania di Manera Bruno from Ventimiglia, Italy.

IPM Essen is where the entire ornamental horticulture community comes together to learn what’s new. At the show’s Novelty Showcase, attendees could witness some of the biggest product announcements of the year first-hand.

During IPM Essen’s grand opening, the chairman of the trade association Landesverbandes Gartenbau Rheinland Eva Kähler-Theuerkauf and Germany’s reigning flower queen Kathrin Köhler announced the winners of the IPM ESSEN’s Novelty Showcase. Entries had been coming in thick and fast, with over 30 novelty plants submitted in seven categories. This year, there was no winner in the Cut Flower category.

Winning the first prize in the Spring Flowering Plants category was Pericallis cruentus Mandala® Plus Magic Purple, submitted by Dutch plant breeder and propagator Dümmen Orange.

n the Balcony Edibles category, Eutrema japonicum ‘Hana Utogi’ (wasabi), submitted by Fitzgerald Nurseries Lt from Ireland, took home the IPM Novelty Award.

Though technically treated as an annual by most greenhouse growers and gardeners, Pericallis is a tender perennial in regions with cool, moist summers. It is a member of the Compositae family of plants. Today’s hybrids are descendants of the African species Pericallis cruenta and Pericallis lanata, which originated from the Canary Islands and Madeira.

Mandala means ‘circle’ in Sanskrit and is a reference to the plant’s rounded and compact habit, a characteristic which can be found in all members of the Dümmen Orange’s Mandala and Mandala Plus families. Mandala Plus ‘Magic Purple’ stands out for its vividly-hued blooms in almost neon purple.

Contrary to the traditional Aloe vera, which tends to get long, thin and leggy, Medivera Aloe veras – comprising of the varieties Equator, Meridian and Tropical – have a compact growth habit and therefore transports well. Pictured are Amigo Plant’s Jacco Huibers and Nicole Berkhout.

Aloe vera Medivera -grown in a 14cm pot and submitted by Amigo Plant from the Netherlands – reigned supreme in the Tropical Foliage Plant category.

Contrary to the traditional Aloe vera, which tends to get long, thin and leggy, Medivera Aloe veras – comprising of the varieties Equator, Meridian and Tropical – has a compact growth habit and therefore transports well. The leaves’ compound can improve wound healing.
In the Flowering Houseplant category, Zygopetalum ‘Oxygen Optimistic’ submitted by Alpha Orchids from De Lier, Netherlands, walked away with the IPM Novelty Award. The plant is highly fragrant, making it a great indoor plant. Zygopetalum has a compact growth habit and can bloom multiple times per year, with each flowering period lasting for about six weeks.

The shrub Pyracantha coccinea ‘Orange Star’ submitted by Hoogeveen Plants in the Netherlands was convincing in the Woody Shrubs category. ‘Orange Star ’ is touted as the world’s first thorn-free, disease and drought-resistant Pyracantha, offering interest in spring and autumn. It produces clusters of white flowers in early summer, followed by flame-coloured orange berries in autumn. This evergreen shrub is a magnet for bees and other pollinators, providing them with vital nutrition.

Modelling the award-winning Pyracantha coccinea ‘Orange Star’ is Tieme van den Haak.

Helleborus hybrida Frostkiss Vibey Velvet, submitted by AllPlant in the Netherlands, is also superb for wildlife, with flowers attracting nectar-craving bees. The winner in the ‘Perennials’ category features blooms in burgundy red that reveal their beauty in early winter.
Catharanthus roseus ‘Soirée® White’ submitted by the Dutch Japanese company MNP/Suntory, scooped up the highest honour in the Bedding and balcony plants category. This heat lover blooms prolifically, featuring tiny flowers and a compact growth habit with excellent branching.

In the Balcony Edibles category, Eutrema japonicum ‘Hana Utogi’ submitted by Fitzgerald Nurseries Lt from Ireland took home the IPM Novelty Award. This wasabi variety is an herbaceous perennial native to Japan and Korea and belongs to the same family as cabbage, horseradish, and mustard. In its natural habitat, it grows along rivers and streams in mountainous areas, in spots where you typically would spot ferns. According to the jury report, this wasabi is suited for growing in pots, producing edible flowers, leaves and rhizomes for growing your own. Wasabi is not an easy plant to grow in balcony pots as it requires heavy shade where the plant is protected from direct sunlight.

The Jury Special Mention Award went to Mangave ‘Praying Hands’ submitted by Cactusmania di Manera Bruno from Ventimiglia, Italy. The first Mangave was created by unintentional cross-pollination and discovered in a batch of Manfreda seedlings. The plant has since been developed by its breeder, and its collection now includes more than 30 varieties. Drought-resistant ‘Praying Hands’ stands 20cm tall, is hardy to -5 degrees Celsius, and makes a perfect feature in patio pots, tubs and rockery gardens.

Fern-believers

Fern breeder and propagator Vitroplus, for many years a household name in tropical ferns, chose to diversify into perennial ferns because of the plant’s unrivalled beauty and amazing variety, pent-up consumer demand, the product’s compelling narrative as well as a desire to explore new territory.

With the Cedar House Ferns brand, the company puts significant marketing muscle behind its impressive range of hardy ferns. The Cedar House Ferns logo illustrates a Victorian-style greenhouse featuring wooden frames and ornate decorative elements.

Also echoing the atmosphere of a Victorian greenhouse was Vitroplus’ stand at the IPM, where Ellen Kraaijenbrink pointed to the kokedamas hanging from the roof. These decorative balls of moss featured an unusual new fern: Asplenium antiquum Gioia ® ‘YUASPGIO’.

Kraaijenbrink says, “IPM was an ante premiere for this new fern because it’s still subject to limited availability. Currently, it is only trialled by a few specialist growers.”

Echoing the atmosphere of a Victorian greenhouse was Vitroplus’ stand at the IPM, where (right) Ellen Kraaijenbrink pointed to the kokedamas hanging from the roof and planted with the new Asplenium antiquum Gioia fern.

No supply constraints apply to Phymatosorus scolopendria ‘Hawaiian Sunshine’, an easy-to-care-for fern native to Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Polynesia.

With its fresh green colour and upright, lobed leaves, this fern makes an ideal plant for the indoors and outdoors. When planted in the garden, especially in tropical regions (zones 10-11), it extends its presence underground through rhizomes. The fern gracefully crawls along the ground, creating an excellent ground cover. Additionally, it has the ability to climb walls and tree trunks and cover rocky areas.

While not indigenous to Hawaii, the fern species Phymatosorus scolopendria is arguably the most cultivated fern in Hawaii at present. As the plant reaches a sufficient size (it can stand 60 cm tall), its leaves can even be utilised as decorative cut foliage.

Kraaijenbrink stressed that Phymatosorus scolopendria ‘Hawaiian Sunshine’ comes with territorial restrictions and is only available to a selected group of growers.

Looking back on the 2024 IPM show, she says, “Amazing to be back at IPM. It’s always such a great pleasure to meet existing and potential new customers, members of the press and other exhibitors face-to-face. Each year, IPM is a great opportunity to reunite with customers, colleagues, and friends. However, we also felt that this year’s show was less well attended than in 2023. Perhaps the two editions are not comparable. In 2023, the industry had just snapped back into pre-pandemic normalcy, with IPM returning after a three-year wait. Back then, virtually anyone in the industry wanted to attend. Also, VitroPlus’s team manning the stand was bigger, which maybe gave us the idea that the aisles were less crowded.”

Kientzler capitalises on the popularity of plant combos for containers

Stunning annual/bi-annual/perennial combinations attracted a lot of attention and appeal to Kientzler’s stand in hall 2, which, true to tradition, is home to the leading plant breeding and propagation companies.

Kientzler’s communication manager, Ms Herzberg says that the company was happy with the quality and feedback of the show traffic. “We had positive conversations with our regular customers and got to meet with nearly all the people that are important to our business.”

Yet, she found the hallways less jam-packed and mentioned the railway strike impacting attendance figures. And while IPM still has an undisputable position as the premier showcase for the ornamental horticulture industry, the event also faces competition from other face-to-face events such as FlowerTrials, which has the additional benefit of being staged in mid-June when plants are at their splendour best.

So, the company deserves credit for having created stunning plant combinations for patio pots at the IPM, that is, in the middle of winter. Herzberg says the aim is to inspire their customers – growers who grow their plants on, finish and sell them to wholesalers’ garden centres and DIY stores.

Highly fragrant combo planted with Elysium ‘Winter Orchid’, Euphorbia ‘Ascot Rainbow’, Hedera ‘Lucii’, Heuchera ‘Amber Lady’ and Viola Ruffles ‘Dark Heart’.

On display were heat-loving plant combos for containers, including Crassula Starlights Ruby, Delosperma SunDiamond, Dipladenia Bella White, and Euphorbia Shades of Pink. Other combos included fragrant plants such as the combo planted with Elysium Winter Orchid (one of Kientzler’s flagship products from its own breeding), Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow, Hedera Lucii Heuchera Ambar Lady and Viola Ruffles Dark Heart. Putting a finishing touch was a series of autumn and spring planters and a range of vegetables and herb combos.

Herzberg explains that each plant recipe is well thought out, taking into consideration colour, fragrance, texture, shape, and growth habit (whether it stays compact without invading neighbouring plants). The plants used in the combos are the result of own and third-party breeding work, with Proven Winners varieties occupying pride of place.

The Proven Winners brand comprises leading plant propagators around the world. In North America, the brand is owned by two leading U.S. plant propagators – Four Star Greenhouse in Carleton, MI and Pleasant View Gardens in Loudon, NH. These companies founded Proven Winners North America in 1992 and, together with two licensees in Canada (Nordic Nurseries and Sobkowich Greenhouses), produce annual plant liners under the Proven Winners name. In Europe, Kientzler was one of the co-founders of Proven Winners Europe. Herberg: “Proven Winners is a global brand that stands for unique, high-performing plants which go through rigorous testing and trialling, which takes 2-3 years for annuals and between 7-10 years for perennials and shrubs.”

Third-generation Kientzler – today run by Andreas Sr. and Alexander and Andreas jr – is quintessentially a young plant supplier with cutting farms (only a minor part of their plants is seed-raised) in Kenya, South Africa, and Costa Rica (serving the North American market). In Gensingen, Germany, the company has over 5.3ha greenhouses for the propagation of URCs, which are subsequently sold mostly on the German-speaking market. The Kientzler group includes a tissue culture lab, also in Gensingen, for the production of Naktuinbouw Elite-certified plant material. Elite plants stand for clean stock material, tested on pathogens according to the latest global phytosanitary requirements.

The product news for the moment is Begonia boliviensis Bellissa, featuring an upright growth habit and masses of flowers on top. To date, the Bellissa series includes four colours: Orange, Red, White, and Yellow.

Nationwide train strike impacts attendance, but IPM Essen still wins as the undisputed champion of horticultural trade shows.

Industry bodies ZVG and IVG publish position paper outlining their approach to peat-related issues

A German coalition coordinated by the Federal Association of Horticulture (ZVG) and the industry body for horticultural supplies and substrates (IVG) has published a position paper to go further and faster to reduce the environmental impact of horticultural peat. The move comes in response to a lack of clear goals and a shared vision between government and industry.

Left to right: moderator Philip Testroet, Head Horticulture and Environment within IVG, Eva Kähler-Theuerkauf, vice president ZVG, Thomas Kramer, spokesman for the Substrates, Soils and Raw Materials department within IVG, Niels Sommer, Germany’s Association of Tree Nurseries (BdB, and Ulrike Wegener, manager GGS.

During a press conference at IPM Essen on 25 January, the alliance – comprised of 12 organisations and industry bodies – gave a joint statement on peat reduction, inviting government and trade to jointly frame peat reduction goals constructively and identify the barriers and opportunities.

The position paper puts forward several solutions, such as public-private partnerships with the Dutch Peat Pact, as a blueprint to follow.
The paper also highlights the need for consistent quality and availability of peat alternatives, revised regulations and laws, research and knowledge sharing in peat-free growing, and campaigns to ‘educate consumers in the realm of peat-free plants’.

Equally important is that when transitioning away from peat, the German horticulture and gardening industry remains globally competitive and on a level playing field with other horticultural markets.

“A 40 to 50 per cent peat reduction is achievable in many crops with reasonable effort, but further reductions are very costly and risky,” said Eva Kähler-Theuerkauf, vice president of the ZVG. “Longer transition periods and further research projects are needed. Crop safety at the nursery level should be given the highest priority.”

As a representative of substrate manufacturers, the IVG stresses that there are supply constraints in peat alternatives, which, at the same time, are too expensive to tempt growers away from peat.

“We need to increase the availability of peat alternatives,” says Thomas Kramer, spokesman for the Substrates, Soils and Raw Materials department within IVG. “In our view, the risk of entrepreneurs switching to other production branches or the resulting increase in imported plants should be prevented at all costs.”

The position paper is signed by IVG, ZVG, BdB, Verband Deutscher Garten Center, VHE, VHE Nord, Verein Deutsche Gemusejungpflanzebetriebe, Bund Deutscher Champignon und Kulturpilzenbauer, GGS, BGK, IPS and Responsibly Produced Peat.

Global buying power

Standing out proudly were the show’s 16 country pavilions with the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Belgium, Poland, the UK, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Japan, the USA, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Korea, and China traditionally prominently present. Blatantly absent was the Italian pavilion, which, since IPM’s inception, has always attracted huge crowds.

In the country pavilion of Portugal, industry professionals could hear first-hand from Frederico Pinheiro Chagas, general manager of ViPlant Nursery, how to grow Mediterranean plants successfully and run garden centres in the Algarve and Lisbon. Labour is, of course, cheaper, and the Algarve’s climate is benign, but access to irrigation water can be challenging.

World (horticultural) expos millions of visitors to the world of horticulture and helps communicate the vital role that plants, flowers, and the landscape play in improving the environment and the health and wellbeing of citizens.

Frequently overlooked are the benefits of the host country’s horticultural industry itself. One of the best proofs of how an international expo acted as a catalyst for a country’s horticultural community is Viplant, a company founded out of a need for more locally grown plants and trees.

Sure that they had found a good market with a product capable of satisfying that market, two friends and visionary entrepreneurs opened Viplant one year before the opening of the Lisbon World Exhibition, aka Expo ’98, held in the Parque das Nações. Today, they run a 35.3ha wholesale plant nursery in Paderne, Algarve, plus a garden centre in Vilamoura, also in Algarve and one in Oeiras, in greater Lisbon.

Dipladenia, Bougainvillea and Hibiscus occupy pride of place at the Viplant nursery, where drip irrigation achieves optimum plant growth and quality while minimising water use.

Pinheiro Chagas remembers how the 2008 Great Recession encouraged the owners to innovate and invest in agtech and digital technology, broadening export horizons. By investing in things that increase in value over time, along with a strong vision for its Viplant brand, the company has grown over leaps and bounds, opening new branches across the country.

Pinheiro Chagas says, “By 2022, we already saw how the market began cooling down, but it is still strong. Nevertheless, there’s a rise in political, environmental and economic uncertainty. Across Europe, it gets increasingly difficult to form a government, there’s political paralysis, and the idea of Europe as a union seems lost, with the old continent lacking a unifying vision. At the same time, growing plants is not as instant as 3D printing and requires vision planning and a long-term strategy, and because of the market’s volatility, this gets increasingly complex.”

Viplant is a member of the Portuguese industry body for ornamental growers, APPP-FN and Portugal Fresh, the trade body that represents the interests of fruits and vegetable growers and, to a lesser extent, flower and plant growers. Portugal Fresh promotes its members’ products and Portuguese horticulture throughout the world at trade shows in export markets.

• The next IPM ESSEN will be held at Messe Essen from January 28 to 31, 2025.

This article was first published in the March 2024 issue of FloraCulture International.