Peter Block, logistic responsible, will be present day and night during the composition as a watchful observant of the meticulously described time-schedule. 5000 trucks filled with soil enter the halls every three minutes,” lining them means that you have a chain of trucks from Ghent to Zaventem . 1600m2 of asphalt is poured; bridges, ponds and fountains are constructed.
And finally, from the 5th till the 13th of April the flower workers start with their part of the job ”It is the intention to have the flowers in their utmost splendour on Tuesday night”, according to Block. On the 14th of April, the Jury passes its severe judgement.
On the 15th of April the Royals come to visit the Floralies of Ghent followed by the specialised press. From the 17th till the 25th April inclusive the Floralies are open to the public. Peter Block emphasizes that each day the flowers will be admired in the same beauty. They are taken care off daily. Sick plants are eliminated and the gardens are maintained on daily basis. “Making the flowers bloom at the exact time, that’s where the skill comes in.” An average of 700 people is working daily to make the Floralies a big success.
Roland De Wulf, for the third time Secretary General of the Floralies, is extremely proud of the innovated and renewed Floralies.
He is looking forward to see the ‘parc Paradisio, an Australian garden covering more than 1000m2, with its gigantic birdhouse housing a large variety of birds.
He is proud of the cooperation project they have with various schools. Involving young people with the Floralies event is an enormous challenge” according to De Wulf.
Children love gardening!
Working in the soil and spending time in open air are the main targets and children simply love it”. As many as 24 school classes of Ghent are working together in the ‘garden gnomes project ‘in which the children present their own little garden. By such projects the passion of gardening is evoked in young children for the rest of their lives.
Youngsters between their 15 and 18 get the opportunity to design the garden of their dreams. All entries are evaluated by a Jury and the winning dream garden project is shown during the Floralies.
One of the most important innovations is the project with the class-restaurants from the flower region. About 10 Flemish class restaurants decorate their tables with flower arrangements. The pleasure of enjoying a good meal surrounded with the beauty of flowers and plants constitute an ultimate emotion. The art gallery “encadré” in which 12 floral designers exhibit their framed creations with flowers and fruit is also very new.
The trendy recycling garden under supervision of Ivo Pauwels meets the eco-trend so hot these days. All material originating from these gardens can be recycled and reduced.
The real masterpiece of the exhibition is the collection giant cactuses from Monaco. This is unique as these cactuses normally never leave Monaco. An exception was made for the Floralies of Ghent so we can admire them in all their splendour.
They are very huge and some are more than 100 years of age. The transport from Monaco to Ghent is a very delicate job and takes 3 weeks. Don’t miss it.
In one of the next newsflashes we tell you all about the international participants and we offer you an interview with the floral artist Gudrun Cottenier.
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