Seventh Beijing Florascape Flower Show goes digital
Beijing Florascape has had the IPM Beijing in their agenda already for quite some time. But a few weeks ago, they had to put a strikethrough on this big trade fair show. The annual Chinese hortiflorexpo alternates between Shanghai and Beijing, but it’s 2020 edition is now postponed until September. However, the company took a turn and hosted an innovative, fully digital event. This spring show was inaugurated on April 7th and will last until April 18th. Beijing Florascape’s flower show will display around 600 varieties from 15 breeding companies.
Beijing Florascape (BJFC) is one of the largest and most influential state-owned, ornamental young-plant suppliers and landscaping companies in China. BJFC normally holds open days every 2 years during IPM Beijing, but due to the outbreak of the corona virus, BJFC swiftly created her first digital broadcast of a flower show this year. With the use of VR technology, they achieved in providing a safe but entertaining program for the attendees at BJFC’s location. The virtual show was also broadcast across social media platforms such as Wechat, Taobao, TikTok, KuaiShou, and Douyu, where viewers were given an e-tour through each floral display by the BJFC staff.
On the opening ceremony, BJFC’s president Mr. Yu Xuebin announced the launch of a new series of pelargonium in the Chinese market: Calliope® Landscape. Calliope will be exclusively sold via Beijing Florascape in China. Mr. Yu gave a speech of the cooperation with Syngenta Flowers, the breeder of the successful Calliope series.
Mr. Yu: “Syngenta Flowers is a world leading breeding company in the flowers industry and also one of the first breeding companies we cooperated with. Beijing Florascape has worked with S&G, the predecessor of Syngenta, since 1998. From seeds to vegetative business, our cooperation is getting closer and closer during the past 20 years. Michael Kester visited our site 2 years ago, and he introduced us their new company’s strategy. As mentioned, Syngenta Flowers will put more energy into breeding, recently they have launched lots of breakthrough new varieties: the first downy mildew-resistance Impatiens: Imara, high resistance to multiple strains of Phytophthora Vinca: Cora XDR, Interspecific Sunflower: Sunfinity and so on. Of all their top genetics, personally, I think Calliope is the most influential series. This product is exclusively sold via Beijing Florascape to growers in China. We initially tested Calliope in 2008 for the Landscape Project of Olympic Games. It was impressive to see the outstanding heat-tolerance and great outdoor performance, which clearly surpassed other pelargonium varieties. Now we meet the new generation of pelargonium: Calliope Landscape, after 13 years. I believe pelargonium Calliope will show its excellent performance and unique characteristics. Let’s witness Calliope bloom all over China!”
