HORTICULTURE 2013 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC TOMORROW - The annual garden show of the Philippine Horticultural Society will formally open at 4pm today at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. However,it will be opened to the public tomorrow through February

Not many people may realize it, but garden shows also contribute to more jobs and livelihood in the cities as well as in the countryside. And that is the reason why various groups are staging their own garden shows at different times of the year.

This afternoon, at 4 p.m., the invitational opening of Horticulture 2013 will be held at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. This is the annual garden show of the Philippine Horticultural Society headed by May Caballero-Dumlao. Starting tomorrow through February 6, the public will have the opportunity to visit the horticultural event. Norma Villanueva is the chairman of the committee that takes charge of the show.

Garden shows create employment (including self-employment) not only of full-time agribusiness entrepreneurs but also backyard hobbyists who also sell the plants that they propagate. We know some people who started gardening as a sideline, eventually becoming full-time plant business operators.

If one visits Los Baños today, the observant traveler will never miss the many plant stalls along the way from Calamba proper, Pansol, and all the way to areas south.

Of course, we know that the garden people are making good incomes from their enterprises. Some operate plant stalls. Others grow big specimen plants as well as low-growing bedding plants for the landscapers. Others have become landscapers themselves.

We can personally say that we have witnessed the growth of the plant business around Los Baños and far beyond. And we could safely say that the Los Baños garden show which started in the early 1960s at the then UP College of Agriculture has been instrumental in the continuous growth of the plant business in the country as a whole.

We worked for four years at the UP College of Agriculture and we were part of the team that publicized the annual garden show that was timed to coincide with the Loyalty Day in October. Later, another edition of the show was held during the summer months of April or May. This summer edition is being held up to this day.

In those early years –1960 to 1964 – there was no plant business to speak of in Los Baños. It was only at the Bangkal Street where the housewives grew Philodendron selloum and some other aroids. But as the Los Baños garden shows rolled on year after year, theplant business burgeoned and this has spread to Metro Manila, Bulacan and in other provinces.

The garden show idea also caught up in Davao, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and other places.

Of course, most garden shows are being held in Metro Manila. Aside from the shows of the Philippine Horticultural Society and the Philippine Orchid Society, there are shows being staged by two groups of bonsai aficionados, members of the Fern Society, the Cactus and Succulent Society and others.

All these garden shows contribute to the growth of the ornamental plant business. If you are looking for new opportunities, you might find them at the Horticulture 2013. So, why don’t you attend?