Proflora kicked Aster

As I sit back in my chair after a long wonderful trip to Bogota Colombia to attended the latest edition of Proflora, my mind is bursting with information and color.

As a veteran of many flower expositions around the world I find myself coming to the same conclusion.

This is a business about “People“, the flowers and foliage’s are just the main actors in the play we call, the floral business.

The people come in all shapes, sizes and colors, just like the flowers we touch and enjoy. I most want to highlight the workers, from those working the fields to the truck drivers delivering the final products to the airport, doing the really hard, tedious but, rewarding part of making flowers come alive to the rest of the world.

Our press group visited three farms. Serrezuela, Colombian Verde, and Rumhora. At all of these farms we learned that taking care of employees is top priority. One great benefit that the owners of some companies, like Serrezulea, have arranged with local banks, are special financing options allowing the workers to get low cost loans, so they could by homes, a feat not possible without this option.

We learned that many farms have generations of families working at the same farms due to the fact that the production of flowers and given life to whole villages. It is not unusual to find that whole communities of people work for the local farms breathing life into areas, with few other good options.

The Proflora Show

The Colombian’s are accommodating and formal resulting in a traditional formal opening ceremony. This year we were treated by having the Colombian President, Ivan Duque Marquez, addressing the, standing only crowd. He is a young president and his remarks and demeanor were refreshing and on point. He appears genuine in his support of the floral industry. He was kind enough to personally greet me so, Flowersandcents.com is firmly on the floral map…Imagine that! Thanks to Augusto Solano.

Entering the grand hall as the show opens, you are surrounded by 400+ booths full of color, hope, fun, creativity, eager sales staff and in most cases the owners as well, await you. With so much to see you one needs to plan how to best navigate the many outstanding displays.

As you walk around you will hear bands playing, be offered food, coffee, candy , adult beverages, and more. In general the booths were grander than I remembered from previous Proflora shows and I suspect that many took notice at last years successful Ecuadorean FlorExpo event and decided to step up their game and set the bar even higher.

Once again it is all about the people and the trust that binds us together as an industry and I have come to the conclusion that “Trust” is the strongest brand a company can possess.

People always ask me what I saw new and interesting and I have two items that I share with you here. While at Rumhora we saw this beautiful flower called “Ptilotus Exaltatus” A very delicate pink filler that is sure to make your designer blush with excitement. As far as I could determine the only two farms offering this in limited quantities are Rumhora and Guaqueta Trading branded as “Matilda”

The other items were these beautiful Marigold ball from ballsb.

One of the traditional highlights of this show is the outstanding varieties competition. This event is taken very seriously by all and I will share few Flowersandcents.com sponsors winners here.

Ball
Deliflor
Flores Ayura

There were too many awards to highlight here but I will post them when they are formally published. But I am happy to report that Ball SB won best booth of the show, and as you will see in my video review, the competition was tough.

Our host Asocolflores treated the press crew to a fun morning at the local farmers market and we were delighted to see and taste the local fruits and flowers in this bustling market

This show ended in traditional fashion with the grand party at the Famous Andres Carne de Rest However, I leave my camera home so what happens there, stays there.

Finally I can say that Proflora 2019 was a great show filled with fun, serious and exciting people that will leave a lasting impression, once again, because of the people.

For those that tell me that you enjoy my work, I say thank you from my heart and with that said, I present to you my video review of Proflora 2019, enjoy.

Williee Armellini
Editor and Chief of Something
williee@flowersandcents.com

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