Numerous Dutch florists took to social medium Twitter to signal their elatedness, reporting things like ‘it was the busiest day ever’ or ‘not a single flower is left in the store’. The country’s flower auctions had already signaled similarly impressive sales in the week leading up to Mother’s Day, perhaps foreshadowing the day’s success.

A quick survey of florists in Germany’s province of North Rhine-Westphalia by the FDF Florist Association showed similarly positive response. 71% of the polled people stated they were satisfied with the results of Mother’s Day 2012, which marks a 10 percent increase over last year. Confirming comments were reportedly heard from the other regional associations in Germany.

A number of factors seem to have conspired to result in such surprisingly good sales. For one, the weather was excellent on Mother’s Day, stimulating turnout. Secondly, and contrary to in many recent years, the day didn’t fall within the holiday period, further increasing public attention and sales.

Online flower delivery companies Euroflorist and Topbloemen also both reported strong figures, the former stating that sales doubled compared to last year while the latter reported 21.2% more orders. Competitor Fleurop did not have any concrete numbers to report as yet.

On the supply side, both FloraHolland and the Plantion flower auction reported strong sales in the week prior to Mother’s Day as well. Plantion in fact had its best week ever, turning over a record 2 million euros worth of produce, 16% more than in 2011.

Sources: Bloem en Blad, FDF, FloraHolland, Plantion

The hyper-modern flower auction is all set to be inaugurated according to local experts. Various flower traders and market association from around the north of India have already been convinced to start trading at the center by organizing party New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA). Deliberations are still going on to get others on board as well.

"Indian farmers suffer because they fail to get the right price for their produce. This facility will overcome all such problems and will give them an ideal environment to fetch the best price for their material from floral stockists in and outside the country," a senior official from Noida Authority comments.

The new flower auction center in Delhi is not only modeled after the famous Dutch flower auctions, but also constructed with support from the government of The Netherlands. A team of representatives from the Dutch ministry of Agriculture recently visited the site.

Sources: Times of India

Despite the decrease, this April does mark the first time since 2007 that the psychological barrier of 2 billion in export value has been reached after fourth months. Mother’s Day sales have also not yet been factored in and they appear fairly good so far, wholesalers note.

Turnover from cut flower exports increased by 3% over the course of the month, to 287 million. Pot and garden plant sales contrariwise fell hard, by 17% compared to the same month last year (ending up at 219 million). Annual cut flower exports have still recorded a 6% increase compared to 2011. Plants on the other hand have remained stable, recording the same turnover as last year.

The weather retains a huge influence on the market for flowers and plants, the HBAG report notes. A cold spring in The Netherlands coupled with production problems in Africa’s flower-producing countries resulted in lower supply. It also keeps demand low as people aren’t tempted to restock their gardens just yet.

The comparison with last year is obscured slightly by the fact that spring arrived extremely early in 2011, creating entirely different price dynamics in the different product categories, the HBAG signals.

Sources: HBAG

FlowerAcademy.tv is an e-learning platform (that is, at heart, an online database of instructional videos) dedicated to matters of product care in the floriculture industry. The short, practical video courses cater to entrepreneurs, employees and students of ornamental horticulture. They are also available in various languages, making them accessible to a global audience.

The various courses which the educational platform offers revolve around specific floral product categories and how to handle those. An episode may for example deal with summer flowers or potted roses and describe their production, background, potential uses and required care. Each course is concluded by a multiple choice test, the successful completion of which results in an official certificate.

The aim of the website and its offered courses is to disseminate best practices in the horticulture sector and to thereby reduce unnecessary product decay, improve shop presentation and, in the end, stimulate business.

“The great advantage of e-learning is that you study when it suits you most”, states Lucas Jansen, one of the people behind the initiative. “There is no travel time and everything is tailored to your needs”, he points out.

Sources: FlowerAcademy, Bloem en Blad

The attractive and easily navigable website (see www.plantion.nl) is indeed a step up from its prior incarnation. It includes a 3d animation of the auction terrain, a video impression of day-to-day activities and lots of information for business clients, suppliers as well as prospective employees.

Various technical functions have also been added to the website, such as the option to buy at a distance. Users are now also presented with a personalized ‘My Plantion’ section, where suppliers and customers can get up-to-date price and product information.

Plantion states it desires to be an ambitious and comprehensive marketplace for flowers and plants and feels the new corporate website is necessary to fully keep up with today’s ‘changing world’.

The auction’s new online strategy, which will likely include more of a social media presence as well, will continue to be developed and slowly rolled out in the coming months.

Plantion is an independent Dutch flower auction, the product of a merger between Vleuten Auction and Flower Auction East Netherlands. The enterprise had an annual turnover of slightly more than 114 million euros in 2011.

Sources: Plantion, Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, Chrysantnet

Multiple reports have confirmed the practical flower food-nature of Viagra by now. "The flowers looked much fresher, their color remained longer, and they were also much more turgid", Israeli scientist Ya'acov Leshem stated after studying the withering process in flowers and the potential role of the drug.

The magic ingredient in Viagra that is responsible for keeping your flowers from wilting is nitric oxide, a molecule involved in many complex physiological and pathological processes in humans. In flora, it slows down the process of dying and thereby prevents drooping and withering. Just one milligram of the drug dissolved into the water allegedly makes your flowers last up to a week longer.

The enthusiastic garden variety scientists over at www.myscienceproject.org also tested a few other suggested household solutions to the problem of wilting flowers. Neither Sprite nor Vodka managed to achieve anything significant however; the Sprite in fact made the bouquet look even worse than the flowers in the untreated control group.

The unexpected plant preserving qualities of Viagra were initially discovered by scientists from Australia, who noted it could double the shelf life of freshly cut flowers. The research was even published in the British Medical Journal.

Sources: The Guardian, The Telegraph, My Science Project

The newly launched YouTube for florists offers instructional films that primarily discuss topics such as the design of flower bouquets. New floral designs are added every month, carefully explained in video as well as step by step photographs.

Contrary to YouTube however, the site works with a login system, meaning interested parties need to sign up and register once in order to obtain access. Three types of paid subscription are available.

In the near future Bloomtube will be available in different languages as well.  

Source: Bloomtube

The event organizers intend to turn the beach of the Belgian city of Oostende into a lush sea of green, while the majestic beach-side Thermae Palace Hotel will be turned into palace of flowers. More than 30.000 blooms will be used to create an array of stunning floral creations that will utterly transform the area.

Dozens of Belgium's top florists will be in attendance during BLOOM to help achieve that fact. Under the guidance of Belgian master florist Stef Adriaenssens they will be creating the flower arrangements, which will be combined with modern interior design to turn every room into a decorator’s dream.

The event will feature a bridal fashion show, various other floral art showcases, outside lounge areas, orchards, and more. An interior design fair will also be hosted in one of the Thermae Palace’s most beautiful wings.

The extravagant Thermae Palace Hotel used to in fact be the coastal resort of the Belgian royal family. A grand and regal atmosphere is thereby virtually guaranteed.

BLOOM will take place in the city of Ostend (Oostende), from July 7 till 9 of this year. Presale tickets are only € 6,50. At the counter during the event itself, you pay 1 euro more.

More information can be found on the official website.

The important protein, which the scientists have named FTIP1, short for 'FT-INTERACTING PROTEIN 1', could be used for classical plant breeding as well as specifically targeted genetic modification, according to involved Associate Professor Yu Hao. Other genes similar to it in function may also be discovered soon and used in the same manner, he predicted.

‘FTIP1’ was found only after scanning through a vast assortment of three million different plant samples for various proteins, a process called ‘yeast two-hybrid screening’ that took about five years. The protein seems to play an absolutely key role in the controlling of the flowering process under normal light conditions, as plants with mutant non-functioning variants of the FTIP1 gene flowered much later.

"This research shows that we can manipulate flowering time through controlling key regulators like FTIP1. This can potentially increase crop yields significantly in changing environments," Yu Hao commented on his team’s results.

The intriguing findings of the National University of Singapore researchers have been published April 17 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.

Sources: Hortinews, Science Daily.