Brian Minter speaks at the West Vancouver Garden Club about European Trends in plants and gardening.
Topic: “Exciting New Trends in Europe”.
There was excitement in the air as a large group of about 50 members gathered to hear our March speaker Brian Minter.
Brian has just returned from one of the largest garden trade shows in the world in Essen, Germany. He told the meeting that Europe is very far ahead of North America in both new technology and plant introductions partly because of the dense population and the huge volumes of plants that are sold.
Robots are important in plant productions and in one case two workers could do work that would have previously needed a big team. Everything is automated including seeding, planting out and
transplanting as needed. Garden centres in Europe are much more a destination with children’s play areas, restaurants etc.
Brian discussed problems that local gardeners might encounter due to the spell of the exceptionally cold weather during the winter. He recommended Ensolite row covers which give 10 degrees C protection.
Brian recommended that local gardeners adapt to the new climate reality.
- Plant breeders are now aiming for longer blooming seasons, more colour variety and plants that are more compact with larger blooms.
- There is also interest in plants that give a good display for longer, for example a deciduous holly that has good fall colour and also produces fruit that is a bird favourite.
- Harvesting rainwater is important and new homes should all have extensive rain storage capacity.
- In Europe peat based products are not recommended but the situation is slightly different in Canada where the resource has not been depleted.
- Europeans are using recycled pots.
- Christmas Amaryllis are outselling Poinsettas because they can flower a second year.
Brian had brought many interesting plants with him to the meeting and introduced them to the members.
He had some beautiful Hellebores in the Frostkiss and Ice Angel series. European breeders are working to make Hydrangeas more sun resistant and with more blooms. There are good new ones in the Magical series which are medium sized.
Brian mentioned that he considered Euphorbias underused as they look good for a long period. Heucheras have also been improved with new colours some of which change as the plant ages.
The new Forsythias are more compact with larger blooms.
An Anemone bred in the UK with pale pink double blooms is named ‘Frilly knickers’.
Breeders are looking for interesting leaves such as in the Dicentra ‘Gold heart’. Brian also emphasized the art of putting garden combinations together to look good such as looking for contrasting leaves or heights.
It was also encouraging that more young people are now interested in plants. He concluded his talk by showing photographs of some of the more extreme (and expensive) garden products available in Europe such as ready-made fencing made of trees. Some fruit trees grown to a bigger size can cost as much as 2,000 Euros.
Wendy Kottmeier thanked Brian for his really interesting and inspiring talk.
Submitted by Lois Woolle