REVIEW: THE GARDEN PRESS EVENT
ENGAGING THREE MILLION NEW GARDENERS AND BEING KIND TO OUR PLANET: KEY THEMES AT THE 2021 VIRTUAL GARDEN PRESS EVENT
Organised by GIMA and the HTA, The Garden Press Event is usually the first opportunity of the year for representatives from some of the biggest names in the gardening and horticultural industry to get together and meet with the sector’s media. However, just like many other events, this one had to pivot and be run virtually for 2021, using a state-of-the-art dedicated online meeting platform that proved a big hit with everyone.
O
ne of the biggest trade events in the gardening calendar, The Garden Press Event, has taken place virtually for the first time in its
16-year history. For some members of the sector, The Garden Press Event in 2020 may have been the last time they attended an event in person before the UK was locked down. The digital event saw the use of online roundtables alongside a series of videos, to provide an interactive way to network and to kick off the 2021 gardening season from the comfort of the attendees’ own homes.
Platform to showcase The event, run by HTA and GIMA, gave 57 exhibitors the platform to showcase their company and products, while speaking directly to members of the garden media. Around 300 journalists, bloggers, feature writers and other members of the media attended the popular event to find out about the latest trends and products for 2021. The hashtag #GardenPressEvent
proved popular on Twitter feeds and opened the floor for discussion about current themes and trends in the industry.
Mark Pitman, General Manager
at Wildlife World, commented: “From an exhibitor’s point of view, I am very happy – the event worked exactly as a virtual event should do. We had advanced notice of who was attending, so knew who we wanted to talk to, and the video chat rooms allowed us to connect with these people and other visitors throughout the day at our leisure. I would even go so far to say that we got more out of it than a physical event.”
Key themes and stories Understanding more on why the nation turned to gardening during lockdown was a theme echoed across exhibitors, such as Westland. Pippa Greenwood announced that three million people have discovered or re-discovered gardening as a direct result of the pandemic, and the focus for the garden industry now is how to keep this new audience engaged. Dalefoot promoted
its latest
compost ingredient, hailed ‘the organic gardener’s best friend’, which yields significant levels of natural nutrients, trace elements and minerals to nourish growing in plants. This has been nurtured over the past five years and is now blended into Dalefoot’s composts, providing some of the best peat-free growing media on the market. Echoing last year’s sustainability focus, exhibitors such as Haxnicks and Dalefoot reinforced the important message of living more sustainably. Participants also got a sneak preview of what to expect from Floriade Expo
The event organisers, GIMA (The Garden Industry Manufacturer’s Association) and the HTA (Horticultural Trades Association) did a great job of moving this event online and provided a very interactive platform which gave all stakeholders the chance to participate as if they were at a live event. Hopefully for next year, we will all be able to meet up in person as the 2022 Garden Press Event is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 9 March at the Business Design Centre in London. For more details, visit
www.gardenpressevent.co.uk.
24 DIY WEEK MARCH 2021
2022. From 14 April 2022, Almere- Amsterdam, The Netherlands, will be the stage for the Floriade Expo 2022 International Horticultural Expo for six months. A day at Floriade Expo 2022 is much more than enjoying the beauty and greenery. Visitors will be touched by what they see, smell and taste. Inspiring gardens, workshops, exhibitions, tasting sessions, flowers and exciting art and cultural programs in a beautiful, green environment. Floriade energises and inspires. Niek Roozen, Floriade landscape
architect gave a presentation on the arboretum, the Expo’s green structure, as well as that of the future urban district, Hortus. It is an alphabetically organised encyclopaedia of trees, plants and flowers, that you can walk through and that contribute to a healthy, green city. Find out about this hopeful, inspiring future at Floriade Expo 2022. Westland used the event to showcase its huge range of new products for 2021, including The Capability Trowel and soil-based planting mediums that are set to deliver ‘green growth’ in the coming year. Simon McArdle, Marketing & Category Director at Westland Horticulture, took attendees on a video tour of the Westland showroom, stopping by each category showcase to explain the
company’s new launches for 2021. Hayter, as part of The Toro Company, its
demonstrated commitment to
sustainability and developing safe and high-quality products that are designed to yield performance and productivity. Green4air Greenwall showcased its vertical garden system, which is suitable for domestic or commercial installations, both indoors and outdoors. Entries to the New Product
Awards raised around £1,700 for the children’s charity Greenfingers, who work to create gardens in children’s’ hospices
across
the UK. Melcourt won the prize for the second year running, this
time for
S yl v a Gr o w Farmyard, their 100 percent peat- free soil improver.
Successful transition The transition to an online event may have been daunting for HTA and GIMA, but it proved to be a success. Lucy Hutchings, who runs the ‘shegrowsveg’ Instagram account, commented: “How inspiring to see the Garden Press Event triumph in
such difficult
circumstances. The digital platform created for this year’s event was truly impressive, and actually resulted in a more personal and focused interaction with exhibitors. “The opportunity to sit down and
have direct face-to-face meetings with people without any distraction was great. Well done Garden Press Event!” George Bullivant, Director at
Gardenforum, echoed this, adding: “The virtual Garden Press Event was a great success. We met as many companies as we would have done at a live show and exhibitors’ video summaries were really useful preparation for the day. I definitely think elements of the virtual show could be used to enhance the next in-person Garden Press Event in the post-Covid future.”
www.diyweek.net
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