Silver celebrations at Europe’s largest wholesale plant/nursery stock sale event

GROEN-Direkt Autumn Fair 2021.

HAZERSWOUDE, BOSKOOP, Netherlands: Pent-up demand, strong prices, lush green foliage, vibrant autumn colours, an impressive range of christmas trees in all shapes and sizes, upbeat mood and excitingly new marketing concepts. These superlatives sum up the mood at the 2021 GROEN-Direkt Autumn Fair.

GROEN-Direkt, the organiser of one of Europe’s premier wholesale plant/nursery stock sale events, heralded the autumn of 2021 with a bang, announcing its 25th anniversary and its Autumn Fair, which took place between 25-26 August 2021. The event attracted 100 exhibitors and 1,500 visitors.

The 2-day event attracted 100 exhibitors showcasing the latest in nursery stock and garden plants. One of the highlights included the Product Showcase area with growers presenting no less than 20 new batches. Sales figures learnt that Heuchera ‘Timeless Night’ was the most popular new plant. Orders could be easily placed via the special ordering app on the customer’s tablet or mobile phone.

Under normal circumstances the GROEN-Direkt fair is held in conjunction with the tree nursery trade fair Plantarium. However, this year’s Plantarium show cancelled due to lack of clarity on Covid-19 restrictions. That’s why GROEN-Direkt catered for a ‘stand-in Plantarium showcase’ with Boskoop’s Royal Horticultural Society (KVBC) crowning  Buddleia ‘Butterfly Candy Little Ruby’ Best in Show.

To attract new customers and boost sales levels, GROEN-Direkt’s show organisers rethinked product placement. This time around, visitors saw trees, shrubs and plants on large benches. A number of plants of each batch was placed on these raised benches, enabling industry professionals to inspect plants on all sides.

GROEN-Direkt also offered an ante premiere of the top selling plants for the 2022 spring season. Buyers booked their favourite spring plants in person or online.

The GROEN-Direkt trade fairs are internationally renowned for their complete and extensive range of trees, shrubs and garden plants. For the autumn edition, the organisers gathered more than 5,500 plant batches under one roof.

What makes GROEN-Direkt unique is its hybrid formula: the combination of a trolley fair, plant display and a webshop enables the company to offer a wide, seasonally varying range of garden plants year-round.

The autumn fair marked the start of GROEN-Direkt’s anniversary year, coupled with fundraising events such as a plant trolley auction. For the auction proceeds, GROEN-Direkt selected the ‘GREEN Education Fund’ to promote education and knowlegde exchange at the plant nursery level and nursery stock sector as a whole. GROEN-Direkt has donated a start-up capital of € 25,000 to the GREEN Education Fund to create a sound basis for a green future.

GROEN-Direkt’s Autumn Fair was held in accordance the COVID-19 guidelines of the RIVM, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.