A garden / flora festival or exposition is a festival and exposition held to celebrate the arts of gardening, garden design, landscaping and landscape architecture. There are local garden festivals, regional garden festivals, National Garden Festivals and International Garden Festivals. The idea probably originated with Germany's Bundesgartenschau. The UK held five garden festivals in the period 1984-92 but blundered through not planning an after-use for the festival grounds during their design and planning phase.
To qualify as an International Exhibition, a show must be recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which was established by a diplomatic international Convention, signed in Paris,in 1928. Shows can also be recognised by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (IAHP / AIPH). To qualify as a National Exhibition, a garden festival must be recognised by a national government.
Because garden design is becoming more popular and featuring on TV, there is an ever-growing number of garden festivals: permanent and temporary, official and non-official. One of the best known is International Garden Festival held on a permanent site at Chaumont in France. Despite the name, Chaumont does not come within the BIE definition of an 'international' festival. Other shows feature garden design but describe themselves as 'flower shows'. The best-known example in this category, the Chelsea Flower Show is seeing a shift of emphasis towards garden design and there is talk of a Chelsea Fringe Flower and Garden Festival in 2008.
The last International Garden Festival is 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition (2010 Flora Expo), it's open on November 6, 2010 to April 25, 2011 in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan).
Contents |
| Country | City | Festival name | Year(s) | Dates | Type | AIPH classification[1] |
BIE recognised[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands |
Rotterdam | Floriade | 1960 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| Netherlands |
Amsterdam | Floriade | 1972 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| Netherlands |
Amsterdam | Floriade | 1982 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| United Kingdom |
Liverpool | International Garden Festival | 1984 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| Japan |
Osaka | Expo '90 | 1990 | Apr 1 - Sep 30 | International | A1 | Yes |
| Netherlands |
The Hague | Floriade | 1992 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| United States of America |
Columbus, Ohio | AmeriFlora '92 | 1992 | Apr 3 to Oct 12 | National | No | |
| China |
Kunming | 1999 World Horticultural Exposition | 1999 | May 1 to Oct 31[3] | International | A1 | Yes |
| Netherlands |
Haarlemmermeer | Floriade | 2002 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| France |
Dijon | Florissimo | 2005 | National | B2 | No | |
| China |
Shenyang | 2006 | May 1 - Oct 31 | International | A2/B1 | No | |
| Singapore |
Singapore | Singapore Garden Festival | 2006 and biennially since |
Dec 16 - Dec 25 | International | n/a | No |
| Thailand |
Chiang Mai | Royal Flora Ratchaphruek | 2006–2007 | Nov 1 - Jan 31 | International | A1 | Yes |
| France |
Dijon | Florissimo | 2010 | Mar 11 - 21 | National | No | |
| Taiwan |
Taipei | Taipei International Flora Exposition | 2010–2011 | Nov 6 - Apr 25 | International | A2/B1 | No |
| Australia |
Melbourne | Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show | 2011 | Mar 30 - Apr 3 | International | n/a | No |
| China |
Xi'an | 2011 | April 22 - Oct 28 | International | A2/B1 | No | |
| Netherlands |
Venlo | Floriade 2012 | 2012 | International | A1 | Yes | |
| France |
Dijon | Florissimo | 2015 | March | National | No | |
| Turkey |
Antalya | Expo 2016 | 2016 | International | A1 | No |