Compile | Huaxin
Source|Keukenhof's official website
Floradaily
Royal Flowers
Synopsis:
1. Keukenhof in the Netherlands receives nearly 1.4 million visitors this year
2. Merger of Royal Rose of Ecuador with Elite Flower Group
3. American young company develops automatic flower vending machine
4. Dutch growers do not use peat to grow anthuriums
1. Keukenhof Park in the Netherlands is closed
It welcomed nearly 1.4 million visitors this year
The 2023 opening season at Keukenhof Park in the Netherlands ended last week. During the eight weeks of opening, nearly 1.4 million people visited the park. Visitors rated the park with a score of 8.6.
Of the more than 100 countries visitors to the park, 20% come from the Netherlands, followed by Germany, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. The number of tourists from Asia has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels. Due to cooler temperatures in the Netherlands, the park maintained a more vivid color for a long time this year, although heavy rains had a strong impact on the flowers during the last week of opening. This year, the number of tourists taking public transport has increased. 20% of visitors from Schiphol, Leiden and Amsterdam take the Keukenhof Express directly to the park.
Every year, 100 growers provide 7 million bulbs to the park free of charge. This year, five new growers were added. Keukenhof has 40 permanent employees. Within two months of opening, the number of employees will increase to 1,000. Next year, Keukenhof will open in March and celebrate its 75th anniversary, when the celebrations will coincide.
2. The Royal Rose Company of Ecuador merges with Elite Flower Group
Ecuadorian grower Royal Flowers has announced that a merger agreement with The Elite Flower Group is under discussion.
▲Royal rose production base
▲Elite Flower Group's farm in Colombia
Founded in 1991, Elite Group has flower farms in Colombia, Ecuador and Kenya, with a total area of 1,600 hectares and more than 1,000 varieties of flowers and 1.5 billion flowers per year, according to the group's website. Royal Rose was also founded in Ecuador in 1991 and now has a 115-hectare flower production greenhouse with an annual production capacity of more than 200 varieties and 90 million cut flowers. Edwin Verdezoto, CEO of Royal Rose, said: "The merger will provide us with more resources and expertise to increase production capacity, while also enhancing logistics and distribution capabilities that will allow us to better serve our customers globally. ”
3. American young company develops automatic flower vending machine
Hypervend was founded in June 2021 in Boston, USA, with the goal of creating a new sales channel for flowers that requires no labor or high fixed costs. To this end, they designed a smart vending machine. The machine enables sales by providing an application programming interface that interacts with any website or app. Just two years after its establishment, they have developed their business to Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia and other countries, and will soon enter EU countries.
Currently, their HAPPYFLORA vending machine comes in two sizes, one with 6 doors and one with 12 doors. Alex Frost, founder and CEO of Hypervend, explains that one or two items can fit in each compartment. Consumers use the app, purchase goods, and after payment is completed, they can open the door to pick up the goods or choose delivery.
According to Frost, the flowers sold were shipped directly from the farm. They are kept in the machine at optimal temperature and humidity. There is software to monitor the real-time status of each product. The containers on the vending machine can be cooled to 2 °C ~ 7 °C, and the humidity is 85%. Therefore, the flowers that consumers buy from the machine can be guaranteed freshness. At present, retail florists, wholesalers, and farms are using this machine. In the future, they also plan to integrate drone deliveries if local laws allow.
4. Dutch growers can grow anthurium without peat
Stoke Brothers became one of the first growers in the Netherlands to grow potted anthuriums without using peat at all. Stoke Brothers was born in 1900 and was succeeded by the fourth generation of the family, David and Peter, in 2012, and now they are one of the biggest names in the Dutch anthurium world. The nursery in Bergschenhoek has an 8-hectare glass greenhouse with a wide variety of anthuriums.
"We have long known that it is possible to grow anthurium without peat, and we have been studying this for five or six years. However, the alternative is a bit expensive, so there was no need to convert in earlier years. In an interview with local media, the brothers said, "However, gradually, the environmental problems of peat are becoming more and more prominent, like the UK now completely bans peat mining." So the brothers took on the challenge, and of course using a replacement solution would inevitably lose some of the properties of peat, but it did not affect the quality of the product. Starting this year, Stoke Brothers' entire range of anthurium products has been grown without peat.