WORLD SUMMIT 2017

WESTIN HOTEL OCTOBER 5‐7 2017

Report for Springfields Horticultural Society Trustees Adrian Jansen

INTRODUCTION The 7th World Tulip Summit was held in Ottawa, Canada in October 2017, hosted by the Ottawa . In addition to celebrating 15 years since the first WTS in Ottawa in 2002, it was also the 65th anniversary of the Ottawa Tulip festival, and 150 years since the founding of the Dominion of Canada. There has been some confusion as to the year of the first Summit. Although we refer to the first as being in 2002 in Ottawa, there was an ‘unofficial’ summit the previous year in Tonami, Japan. It was there that it was decided to invite a number of countries to participate the following year in Ottawa. This Tonami meeting is now known as ‘The Inspirational Summit’. The second Summit was in Canberra, 2006, 3rd in Spalding 2008, 4th Skagit Valley, USA in 2010, 5th in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013, and the 6th in Suncheon City, South Korea, 2015 Initially, having received the invitation to attend, David, Peter and myself agreed we would not send a delegate as SHS couldn’t justify the cost of airfare, hotel and registration fees. Having explained this to Michel Gauthier, the Chairman of the WTS, he understood our situation, but he was very keen to have us attend. In order to help, the delegate fees could be waived, and the organisers would pay one return airfare, if we covered hotel costs. After consultation with Trustees, we decided I would attend alone. You have all received the link to the SHS website together with the password to be able to see both my slides and written presentation. The choice of subject was that of the organisers, with some modification from myself. The presentation ran for 25 minutes, as requested and was well received. I will not repeat the presentation in this report. It was not practical to take pictures of presentations during the summit, so most of the pictures in this report have been taken from websites. Links are given where possible. However, after the Summit ended, there was opportunity to see a little of Ottawa, and I will give a short slide presentation at the December meeting of Trustees. TRAVEL I flew direct from Heathrow to Ottawa on Wednesday 4th October on Air Canada. With a 5 hour time difference, arrival in Ottawa was 1830hrs. Taxi to hotel in the centre of Ottawa. SUMMIT FORMAT The Summit was divided into 3 themes, beginning with Tulip Friendship on day 1, Tulip Celebration day 2, and Tulip Tourism on day 3. THURSDAY 5 OCTOBER ‘TULIP FRIENDSHIP’ The summit was held in the Governor General Suite in The Westin Hotel, two self‐contained rooms connected by folding doors to make one big room for the official dinner. The WTS had a registration desk outside, staffed by volunteers to aid with registration and any questions. It was in place for the duration of the summit. The day’s program did not begin until midday, but from 11 am, delegates began arriving and meeting up with old friends. Midday to 1330 was the official opening ceremony and the welcoming of delegates. Speeches were made by Michel Gauthier, the Chair of the WTS host committee Donna Holton, Chair of David Luxton and Gary Lacey, Executive Director of the National Capital Commission. (The NCC is the body responsible for all parks and gardens throughout The Capital) After lunch, delegates boarded coaches to the Commissioners Park in Ottawa to perform the ceremonial planting of the tulip ‘World Friendship’. This variety, exclusive to the World Tulip Summit Society, was raised by Klaas de Geuss of Maveridge International in The . It was first planted in Istanbul at the 2013 Summit.

Each country representative, together with The Mayor of Ottawa, planted a small number of bulbs in a bed which will have an appropriate story board in Spring 2018. Local schoolchildren also attended to help plant.

After the planting ceremony, delegates returned to the hotel after a sightseeing tour of Ottawa, taking in the ‘Garden Promenade’, a series of long beds and small park areas around the city which are the focal points of the Tulip Festival each spring.

The evening event was a ‘Tulip Soiree’, a gala dinner attended by delegates, representatives of local government and other bodies involved with the Ottawa festival. A local ukelele orchestra provided entertainment, ‘Tiptoe through the ’ being their party piece. Flower arrangers and artists were demonstrating their skills in working with tulips throughout the evening. In addition, there was a ‘Tulip Awards’ presentation. This is a program created by the Canadian Tulip Festival to acknowledge those businesses, schools, individuals and volunteer groups who contribute to and enhance the capital’s tulip experience during the festival.

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER ‘TULIP CELEBRATION’ Presentation; Istanbul Tulip Carpet 2017

The Istanbul Tulip Carpet was part of the Istanbul Tulip Festival in Spring 2017. The festival itself, which was reported in more detail after the 2013 WTS in Istanbul, uses 26.5 million tulips, spread over the City of Istanbul, parks, gardens, roadsides and urban planters. The Tulip Carpet 2017 was the second time this type of display was laid out in Sultanahmet Square in the city centre. All the tulips were grown in trays and produced off site, being brought to the Square as the tulips began to show colour. The carpet claims a World record, and comprises 564,000 tulips covering an area of 1731 square metres (63m x 27.5m)

The Festival attracts more than 50,000 visitors each weekend.

Presentation; ‘From the Great Tulip Conference to the present…. A resume of Tulips in the UK’ Adrian Jansen This presentation is available on the SHS website as described earlier.

Presentation; ‘Tiptoe Through The tulips, Anytime’ Jason Michelin, Canada. Jason is a freelance computer games designer, and has produced a game ‘Tulip Crush’ based on the very popular ‘Candy Crush’ format. However, this game uses actual photos of 80 different tulip varieties that can be moved in sequence to match 3, 4 or more neighbouring pictures, gaining points and awards. There are 18 different levels of play, each with the aim of ‘rescuing’ Princess Tulipa. The game is currently available in Android phones, PC and Mac, and soon to be released on IOS for Apple users. (See tulipcrush.com for details) The designer can make bespoke editions of the game for individual festivals and it will be possible to play against others online. His vision is for a ‘World Championship! Presentation; ‘CANADA 150’ Daniel Feeny, National Capital Commission, Ottawa As mentioned before, The NCC is the body responsible for all the parks and gardens in Ottawa, and as such, have responsibility for the planting and care of the tulips for the annual tulip festival. The tulip festival celebrates the relationship between Canada and The Netherlands, begun in 1945 following the safe haven given to the Dutch Royal family during WW2. What began as a small gift of tulip bulbs to the Canadians, the tradition has been continued annually since then. It is on the basis of this gift that the tulip festival now plants 1million bulbs annually, mostly in beds alongside a 6km drive by the to the Commissioners Park. 2017 is the 150 anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada, and the NCC together with the tulip festival organisers, wanted a new, unique tulip variety with which to celebrate. In a survey of Canadians, the tulip festival came 5th on a list of things Canadians think about Ottawa, beaten only by the Parliament buildings, the canal, the government itself, and museums. So, something special had to be found that reflected their love of tulips, and their national identity. After much dialogue with Dutch breeders and looking at hundreds of new seedlings, nothing came close to fulfilling their wish list. By accident, the festivals artist, Monique Martin, found what they were looking for, a variety already in production, ‘Carnaval de Rio’.

With its striking white petals and flame‐like red flashes, there was a strong resemblance to the Canadian flag. Negotiations with the Dutch regulatory bodies resulted in the festival being able to buy, plant, and also retail the variety under the name ‘Canada 150’ for 2 years. First plantings in Ottawa were in autumn 2015 for a preview in spring 2016. Following that, there was a partnership with Home Hardware Stores to promote the sale of retail packs of the bulbs for autumn 2016 planting, so Canadians could have them in flower in their own gardens in Spring 2017, joining in with the capital’s celebration. The marketing campaign was a success, with 4 million bulbs being sold. Bulbs were also planted at the Canadian Embassy in London. The following links are to you tube clips from 2016 and 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dwagq7eXoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob4vV6eZ9bg

Presentation; ‘From Floating Tulips to a 365 day Tulip Display’, Tonami, Japan. Tonami Tulip Fair has been held for the last 67 years, and has been twinned with the Canadian Festival for 20 years. The highlight of the year are the outdoor plantings, but you can see tulips in flower 365 days a year.

In 1995 they built a ‘Tulip Gallery’, an indoor facility which enables them to show tulips all year round, using the ice tulip technique to flower them during the summer and early autumn. The lakes carry floating tulip displays, grown in 3 part hydroponic containers of their own design following many years of trials.

One of the features is the ‘Tulip Wall’, displays of tulips in trays grown on almost vertical walls. The idea is reproduce the ‘Ice Walls’ of the region which are cut out of the snow on the mountainous roads nearby, themselves being a tourist attraction. The fair is open for approximately 16 days in late April to early May, and the 2017 attendance was 323,000. They use 3 million bulbs in 700 varieties. Commercial tulip production has taken place in the area since 1918, with 32 growers currently growing 25 Ha and selling 6 million bulbs annually.

The following you tube links give a quick flavour of the festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmWf1n‐8ujE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YQSrMPnQNI

Presentation; International Peace Garden, Paula Savage and Gary Enns The International Peace Garden Foundation began 25 years ago. Their mission, ‘To foster world peace and advance global friendship through the establishment of peace gardens’. The values of the foundation; ‘We believe that tolerance, mutual respect, community service and volunteering all enable the requirements of a more peaceful society. The Foundation is a not for profit organisation and has official member gardens in 22 countries on 5 continents. The latest country to establish a peace garden is Mexico in 2017. It is hoped the next will be in South Korea. www.ipgf.org The USA / Canada Peace Garden was established in 1932, long before the concept of International peace gardens. It lies at the centre of the North American continent on the 49th parallel, straddling the border between North Dakota in the USA and Manitoba in Canada. The garden itself is 3.65 sq miles (2336acres / 945 Ha) and is neither US nor Canadian territory. Visitors from either country enter the garden with no border controls, but are fully checked on leaving, thus maintaining border integrity. Whilst much of the area is natural vegetation and open country, there is a formal 25 acre garden at its centre containing the original cairn built in 1932. https://www.peacegarden.com

Presentation; ‘Tulips on an Island’ Markus Zeiler, Mainau, Germany www.mainau.de Mainau is a small island in Lake Constance, close to the Swiss / Austrian border in South East Germany. It is 45 ha and is reached by a short causeway. There are 25 ha of public areas and has been developed into a floral garden since 1945. It attracts 1.2 million visitors per year and has a €25m turnover. It has had a butterfly house since 1996, a concert hall, 150 year old arboretum, rose garden, dahlia garden (275 varieties), perennial gardens, and a restaurant with a ‘green’ growing roof. They plant 500k tulip bulbs each year in 450 varieties, all bought from the Netherlands. They are planted in combination with viola, bellis and myosotis. The season starts with kaufmaniana tulips and ends with lily flowering.

The water cascade in spring, featuring daffodils, and later with tulips.

Presentation; ‘Flowers shaking in the wind’ Sang Yool Hang Taean Flower Festival, South Korea

This tulip festival only started in 2012, and was the presenter’s passionate aim to create this event following a series of local disasters. In December 2007, an oil spillage from a supertanker collision just off the Taean coast left the local beaches and marine and coastal conservation areas covered in 10,800 tonnes of crude oil. Half of the local fish farms were destroyed, creating immediate hardship for the locals. There followed a huge clean up operation with 20,000 people each day cleaning the spill by hand, together with military and public employees. Several hundred kilometres of coastine were affected, both on the mainland and a series of offshore islands. The cleanup was completed by June 2008, and the vision of the presenter could start to be realised. The first festival in 2012 attracted 250k visitors, in spite of 2 typhoons in 3 days almost destroying the garden just before opening day. 2013 saw the worst drought for 100 years, and in April 2014, 1 day before opening, a ferry capsized off the cost and 357 students were lost, and there was no appetite for celebrations. It appeared everything was against the festival, and it was almost bankrupt. However, the presenter persevered and developed a strategy for recovery. This included extending the tulip flowering period by multi layering plantings. This extended the season from 2 to 4 weeks. This extension of the season created an additional $2m of revenue. The second phase of recovery included a light festival at new year which in itself covered the operating costs for the year. 2017 saw 750k visitors, with 1 million expected in 2018. It is believed each visitor spends $10 in the festival site, but another $70 in the local community. Within 3 hour flying time, there are 2 billion people, so they believe there is plenty of potential for visitors!

Presentation; ‘A Light of the East’ A documentary film on the fascinating story of the journey of the tulip. The film covered the history of the origins of tulip, the movement out of Asia into Europe via Austria, Tulipmania in the Netherlands and its place in the modern world.

Friday Evening…… Dinner with delegates in a local restaurant.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 7 The day started with a breakfast meeting of country representatives. Main points;  The ‘World Tulip Summit Society’ will now be known as The ‘World Tulip Society’.  The Summit itself becomes an activity of the Society  Currently works as a committee, but will look at becoming a company.  The 2019 summit venue has still to be decided. Beijing was interested but could not commit. Possibilities are Netherlands, Holland (USA) or Taean, South Korea.  It is estimated the cost of hosting a summit is $20 CAD ( approx. £12k)  A logo will be created for Society members to use in there literature, ‘ Member of The World Tulip Society’  There is a desire to have an international ‘Tulip Day’, which would be sanctioned by UNESCO. There are issues as not all festivals plant and flower at the same time, ie, Southern Hemisphere.

Today’s theme, ‘TULIP TOURISM’

Presentation; Disneyland Paris Luc Behar

A review of this presentation is best made by bullet points;  Park opened in 1992, and Luc Behar has been the architect of all the gardens since the construction began in 1989.  Park covers 2000Ha  There are 50 trains per day arriving at the dedicated Disneyland station  In 2016 there were 13 million visitors.  16% come from UK, 48% France, 6% Netherlands, 3% Germany, 3% Italy, 9% Spain, 15% others.  Hotels on the park have 8000 rooms.  15,000 employees, 500 trades, 100 languages. The park supports 56000 jobs outside the park in supply industries.  Reasons for landscaping……Guest comfort, create screens, support and complement the stories.  300Ha of landscaping, 140 horticultural employees  330k shrubs, 35k trees, producing 2000 tonnes of green waste per year.  1 million flowers, 270beds covering 7200sq m of ground.  5 rotations of flowers per bed per year.  300 hanging baskets, 500k tulip bulbs  2.5km hedge maze  In the course of the year, there are 6‐8 weeks of night planting so as not to disturb guests. Presentation; Indira Ghandi Garden, Kashmir, India Javed Ahmad Shah

This festival first opened in 2007 on a 30 ha site in Kashmir. The park is at a height of 5600ft above sea level, and claims to be the largest tulip garden in Asia. There are 7 terraces carved out of the hillside. There are 1 million tulips in 70 varieties, and the festival runs for 2‐3 weeks in April. Attendance is approaching 2 million visitors annually. The area has been growing horticultural crops since 1988, but since 1995 gerbera and alstromeria were trialled. Tulips began in 2002. There are some wild indigenous tulip species in the nearby mountains.

Presentation; ‘New Models to develop tulip attractions from China and Holland’ Ibo Gulsen, IGMPR Flowers NL IGMPR Flowers is a project development company in NL specialising in developing flower theme parks around the world, but with a current emphasis on China. His associate company, Jansen’s Overseas, grows 10million pots of bulbs per year, as well as potted shrubs. www.jansensoverseas.com/en He believes for any park, the attraction value = time spent at the park X quality of experience. Facts about Keukenhof;  1.4 million visitors, break‐ even point is 800k  Open for 8 weeks  80% of visitors are non‐Dutch  Opened in 1950, has a staff of 45.  32 Ha, 17km paths, 7 million bulbs.  Capacity is 60k visitors per day.  Average visit time 2.5 hours  20 Ha parking.  All retail outlets are franchised at an agreed cost based on visitor numbers. In 2017, it was national Tulip day in Amsterdam when 200k tulip flowers were given away. Unique publicity for the industry,. Amsterdam has a tulip festival in its parks and gardens 1‐14 May 2017. Inspired by Istanbul, uses 850k tulip bulbs. China; China focuses on year round attractions, size is more important than visitor experience it would appear. Design is more like single variety bulb fields rather than shaped beds. ‘Flower Oceans’

Presentation; Sigurta Garden Park Italy Giuseppe Sigurta.

This is a privately owned garden between Venice and Milan. Opened in 1978, it covers 160 acres and plants 200k tulips annually. It attracts 400k visitors per year and has a staff of 70. To appreciate the beauty and complexity of this park, please visit the website. www.sigurta.it

End of Summit. The Summit drew to a close with a final lunch and thank you speeches from key personnel who had been involved in the event. The official proceedings ended at 2.30 pm. Visit Many delegates had return flights arranged for the afternoon / evening, but those remaining took a walk with Michel Gauthier across the Ottawa River via the , to , an Ottawa suburb on the side of the river. Here we viewed the ‘Mosaicanada’ park / exhibition. This park was free to enter and around 10 acres. It became the home to plant sculptures for the Canada 150 celebrations, opening on July 1 and closing the week after the Summit, October 15. Huge sculptures were created in a way similar to our tulip floats, but then filled with compost and growing plants inserted to form different colours and textures. The whole park cost $15m CAD and in approximately 14 weeks, attracted 1.5 million visitors. More pictures of this park will be shown at the Trustees meeting in December. Close. The final social event took place in the evening with a barbeque at Michel Gauthier’s house. SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER My return flight was not until late evening Sunday, so I made a return visit to Mosaicanada, and spent the rest of the day ‘being a tourist’. Summary The Summit was very well organised, with all delegates keen to talk about their festivals. It is clear that we are probably one of the smallest festivals now, and nowhere near the ‘big league’ festivals like Japan, South Korea and Turkey, and will never have the attraction of natural parks like Italy and Germany as described earlier. However, there is great interest in our heritage which I hope as a Society we can continue.

I would like to thank The Trustees for allowing me to take part in my 5th World Tulip Summit.

Appendices. Appendix 1 Delegates

2017 World Tulip Summit Country Organization Delegate 1 Canada Abbotsford Tulip Festival Alexis Warmerdam 2 Butchart Gardens Dave Cowen 3 Canadian Tulip Legacy Laura Brown-Breetvelt 4 Canadian Tulip Legacy David Luxton 5 Canadian Tulip Festival Michel Gauthier 6 Serge Richer 7 Kath Thompson 8 Karen Wood 9 Kevin Arthur 10 Daniella Donati 11 Jean- Paul Fournier 12 Chilliwack Tulip Festival Kate Onos-Gilbert 13 Keaghan Onos 14 Landscape Tim Kearney 15 National Capital Commission Tina Liu 16 National Capital Commission Daniel Feeny 17 National Capital Commission Gary Lacey 18 Official Artist Monique Martin 19 Poet Laureat Michel Therien 20 Tulip Crush Jason Michelin 21 Summit Host Committee Donna Holton 22 Bill Meyer 23 David Dunlop 24 Georges Bedard 25 Fusun Oren 26 Joan O'Neill 27 Henry Storgaard 28 Hanna Sjoeborg 29 Bernadette Salame 30 Veseys John Barrett 31 Dubai Miracle Garden Farhan Shehzad 32 Abdel Naser 33 Sophian 34 France Disney Paris Luc Behar 35 Germany Mainau Island Gardens Markus Zeiler 36 India Kashimir Tulip Garden Javed Shah 37 Italy Parco della Sigurta Giuseppe Sigurta 38 Japan Tonami Tulip Festival Osamu Natsuno 39 Mrs. Natsuno 40 Yasuki Sakai 41 Hiroko Koshino 42 Tsutomu Mizuki 43 Netherlands Maveridge Klaas De Geus 44 GMPR Ibo Gulsen South Suncheon National Garden Cho Choong Hoon 45 Korea 46 Jeong Gang Hoan 47 Sang Yool Han 48 Lee Sun Hwa 49 Lee Hyung Keum 50 Choi Sam Lim 51 Kang Hang Sik 52 Kim Won Il 53 Turkey Istanbul Tulip Festival Okan Yilmaz 54 Ismal Gulal 55 Agac 56 UK Springfields Horticultural Adrian Jansen 57 USA Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Cindy Verge 58 Holland Michigan Nathan Bock 59 Gwen Auwerda 60 IPGF Paula Savage 61 John Hodgson 62 International Peace Garden Garry Enns

APPENDIX 2 WORLD TULIP AWARD RECIPIENTS 2017 World Tulip Award Recipients Name of Award Recipient 1 World Tulip Festival of the Year Tulip Time, Holland, USA World's TOP 5 Tulip Festivals 2 Worth Travelling For Floriade, Canberra, Australia Istanbul Tulip Festival, Turkey Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, USA Srinagar Tulip Festival, Kashmir, India Taean Tulip Festival, South Korea 3 World Tulip Event of the Year Bloememcorso Bollenstreek, Netherlands

4 World Tulip Display of the Year Tonami Tulip Fair, Japan

5 World Tulip Garden of the Year The Butchart Gardens, Canada

World Tulip Destination of the 6 Year Mainau Island, Germany

7 World Tulip Attraction of the Year Jiangsu Dafeng Holland Flower Park , China

8 World Tulip Promotion of the Year Canada 150 Tulip, Canada

9 World Tulip Game of the Year Tulip Crush, Canada

10 World Tulip Product of the Year Tulpi Chair, Netherlands

11 World Tulip Partner of the Year Veseys, Canada

12 World Tulip Person of the Year Mayor Osamu Natsuno, Tonami, Japan

APPENDIX 3 ORDER OF THE TULIP RECIPIENTS

2017 WTS Order of the Tulip recipients Luncheon Saturday Oct. 7th International Anna Pavord UK James Akers UK Yorkut Yetgin Turkey Gwen Auwerda USA Leo Vandervlugt USA Maarten VandenNouland Netherlands Javed Shah India Paula Savage USA

Canadian Grant Hooker CTF President Richard Patten CTF President Donna Holtom CTF President Joan O'Neill CTF President Goerges Bédard CTF President Anne Renaud Author ‐ A Blooming friendship Kate Onos‐Gilbert Tulips of the Valley

END OF REPORT

ADRIAN JANSEN DECEMBER 2017