Stable growth in the Nordic garden industry

More and more people in the Nordic countries are buying plants and trees from garden centres and decorating their conservatories in various ways. At Elmia Garden, the trade fair for everyone working with plant nurseries, garden centres and garden products, the strong and consistent growth trend was obvious.

“The desire for products from garden centres has grown hugely and the Nordic population wants to fill and adorn their gardens and patios in many ways that are new to us in this region,” comments Henrik Landén, project manager of Elmia Garden. “For example, Swedes and Finns love the Mediterranean style now, with big plants and big pots.”

The sale of garden centre plants and other garden products has seen stable growth in the Nordic countries. Industry figures point to a general retail growth of four to five percent in recent years.

Competition for florists
Over the same time period, Elmia Garden has grown to become northern Europe’s most important meeting-place for the industry both in Sweden and abroad. The fair is where everyone gathers who works professionally with retailing garden plants and other decorative garden products.

Florists also have a key meeting-place at Elmia Garden. Within just a few years, the Flower Grand Prix by Elmia competition, in which florists compete in flower arranging on the trade fair floor in front of all the visitors, has become an important part of the development of the entire floristry industry and has developed into Sweden’s most prestigious competition for florists.

The fair’s growing importance is a result of the increasing interest from consumers but above all of the knowledge exchange which occurs during the fair via seminars, workshops and face-to-face encounters on the floor of the trade fair – meetings that create the conditions for business development.

Trends and deals
Elmia Garden brings together the industry’s leading players so they can present trends, new products and services, and access new knowledge that leads to new business deals.

“Blomsterlandet visits Elmia Garden because it is a self-evident meeting-place here in Sweden,” explains Erica Dahlqvist of the Swedish retail chain. She has attended most Elmia Garden shows over the years. “It’s a fair with many good lectures and the quality of the fair and exhibitors is high.”

“Do you see more trends at the moment?”

“This spring we can see that the trend towards having green plants is still strong, with plants as a self-evident feature in interiors. This green trend, which we call ‘Green Mystique’, also has many black elements. As well as the green, lush trend there is also a colourful, exuberant trend with bright spring colours in both the plants and the pots.”

Elmia Garden

Elmia Garden is a trade show specifically for people working in garden retail, and park and ground installation. Over the years it has grown to become northern Europe’s most important meeting-place for the industry, both in Sweden and internationally. The exhibitors are suppliers of plant materials, growing technologies and products, pots and garden ornaments and other products or services for the garden industry. Next Elmia Garden: 29–30 September 2015. www.elmia.se/garden

For more information

Henrik Landén, Business manager, +46 36 15 22 57, henrik.landen@elmia.se