immaculately cared-for

Japan's top flower show prepares to bloom

Sunday, 6 March 2011

courtesy of The Japan Home Garden Association.

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The Japanese are famous for their love of gardening and, as anyone who has visited the immaculately cared-for gardens of Kyoto, Nara or any number of other cities across the country will testify, they pay the greatest attention to the smallest of details.

That attention to detail will again be on display at the Japan Flower and Garden Show, which will run for three days from March 25 at the Makuhari Messe Convention Centre outside Tokyo and is sponsored by The Japan Home Garden Association. The organization is expecting more than 70,000 visitors to attend over the three days.

The event is the biggest of its kind on Japan's gardening calendar and is often described as Japan's equivalent of the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Organizers say the purpose of the annual event is to "promote the diffusion of horticultural knowledge, facilitate interaction among people working in the horticultural industry and thus further the development of the industry."

The event has been given the theme "Discover joy! Flower and vegetable gardening health!" and will have a wide array of plants, products and services on display.

More than 300 exhibitors have reserved booths, the organizers said, to display everything from bulbs and seedlings to mature plants, houseplants, cut flowers and bonsai. Companies specializing in fertilizers, chemicals and bio-chemistry will also be represented, along with landscaping contractors, garden design firms and manufacturers of garden furniture, irrigation and draining equipment and machinery suitable for larger gardens.

Even though the event is being held indoors, machinery manufacturers have in previous years created artificial fields that potential customers have been able to test rotary diggers and mowing machines on.

Garden gadgets also attract a great deal of attention at the event, organizers said.

Other exhibitors will include traditional "ikebana" flower arranging schools, tourism-related floral attractions, theme parks and botanical gardens and representatives of the mail order flower industry.

Japan Flower and Garden Show
March 25-27
10 AM to 5 PM
Tickets: Y700 (€6.18) for adults but free for junior high school students or younger.

Venue: Makuhari Messe Convention center, 2-1 Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba City 261-0023.
http://www.m-messe.co.jp/en/index.html

Further information: From The Japan Home Garden Association on Tel: +81 3 3249 0681 or http://www.kateiengei.or.jp/ (in Japanese)