Gardeners dance to their own tune

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Make your own grass bank
Pure styles are not as important today, and ornamental plants are easily mixed with edible ones. A wilder, more natural look can be achieved by mixing plants to look like the natural growth on a grass bank or hill.

Large cultures - Large exports
Looking abroad, Danish flower exporters may add a more varied picture of where which plants are preferred and the interest in plants from Danish market gardeners is still remarkable.

Inquiries to two of Denmark′s major flower exporters show that the plants produced most in Denmark are also the mostly exported plants.

Lars Peter Hermansen, sourcing manager at the Gasa Group, states that a very large volume of Campanula and Kalanchoe is going south together with large volumes of roses and Phalaenopsis and that the demand for outdoor plants is increasing drastically as weather improves.

-          The current demand for Kalanchoe is large. For us, the export share of Campanula is 75-80 % and the blue and lilac types are still popular. We see that the volume sent south remains high while the Danish are reluctant with using Campanula.

Campanula, Kalanchoe and roses are also popular export items at Euroflora in Odense. According to sales manager Leif Mortensen, most of the Campanula sold is sent to Germany and the rest to Sweden whereas the volumes of Kalanchoe, roses and Osteospermums are almost evenly divided in both directions. Hedera is popular in Sweden and Finland which are the main buyers of Euroflora′s sales.

Bedding season well under way
The spring sale period is one of the key periods for Danish market gardeners and exporters and there are bright spots despite the tricky April weather.

-          In early 2012, our plant sales have increased slightly and May is off to a good start, so things are looking good,

says Leif Mortensen.

Facts:
Top 10 of the most widely produced cultures in Denmark in 2011:

Source: Floradania Marketing

Caption: Make your own grass bank