The Landscape Istanbul Fair (LIF) (Peyzaj İstanbul Fuarı), which took place from 16 to 18 November 2023 in two halls of the Istanbul Expo Center (Istanbul Trade Fair Center = İstanbul Fuar Merkezi, İFM), in Istanbul, located at the junction of Europe and Asia, concerned primarily the green industry, from ornamental plants to interior decoration, focusing on emerging markets in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, Central and South Asia. The organizer, Athena Fuarcilik A.Ş. from Ankara, emphasized the great interest of visitors in the presented products, as well as accompanied the fair, the international symposium of the World Urban Parks.

Mustafa Gültekin Gökgül, director of Athena Fuarcilik A.Ş., the organizer of the LIF fair, emphasizes that “Turkey has become an important player in the global green industry. The country’s climatic conditions and location make it a very good place for the production and export of a wide range of ornamental plants that are used to implement projects around the world. Istanbul, as a center of international trade, well connected with the world, is a great place for meetings of producers of ornamental plants with contractors and representatives of the horticultural trade”.

The two-day World Symposium on City Parks entitled: “Adaptation (to climate change) and recovery (biodiversity), promoting the potential of parks” was organized by the international association World Urban Parks. Its CEO, Luis Romahn, drew attention to the topic of this meeting, which was available free of charge to LIF fair participants and brought together experts from various countries: Paul Rabbitts, Parks and Open Spaces Manager for Norwich City Council, England; Dennis Habers, asset-manager for the municipality of Rotterdam; Marie Gantois, Head of the Plant and Soil Expertise of the City of Paris, Rene van der Velde, Associate Professor Landscape Architecture and Urban Forestry at Delft University of Technology, Dr. Ahmad T. Tawfik, advisor of Dhafra Region Municipality, Alessandra Riccetti, Public Space Designer for the City of Amsterdam, Ergin Ünver Planning and Project Manager at the Denizli Metropolitan Municipality, Dr. Stephan Treuke, Project Director of Emscherland, Germany and Dr. Ahmet Cemil Tepe, Deputy Director of the Department of Parks, Gardens and Green Areas of Istanbul.

The fair was held under the patronage of the Turkish Association of Producers of Ornamental Plants SÜSBİR, which has approximately 700 members. The president of this organization, Savaş Akcan, said during the official opening of this year’s fair that Turkish exports are many times higher than imports and will continue to grow and at the show, different varieties of plants were shown.

Plants as sculptures are a good trend in Turkey. With formed trunks, most often made of Lagerstremia is one of the best sale for Turgutlu Botanik Park. The nursery has 48 ha of cultivation area in Gediz River Watershed and the production includes mainly Cupressocyaris Leylandii, Laurus Nobilis and Liquidambar styraciflua.

Kalanchoe, among others with added value with seasonal compositions for autumn and Christmas, was the main product of the stand of Queen Flowers, the Turkish partner of the well-known breeding company Knud Jepsen in Denmark. It is from Izmir, Turkey that the majority of kalanchoe seedlings reach the Danish headquarters.

For the first time at the fair the Chinese company Kinofarm, located in Zhangzhou city, Fujian Province, offers starting materials for further production and is specialized in bonsai plants including Ficus microcarpa, Cycas revoluta, Dracaena sanderiana and Sansevieria trifasciata. Another important type from this company’s product range is Pachira (Money Tree).

Bougainvilleas dominated the stand of the Sera Flora company, which presented bougainvilleas with different colors of flowers and in several forms. With its 55 hectares of greenhouse and field production in Antalya’s Manavgat district, Sera Flora takes great pride in being one of Turkey’s leading suppliers of Bougainvillea, Strelitzia nicolai and Strelitza reginae. Its Bougainvillea portfolio includes lollipop standards, balls, and pyramids with plaited or spirally trained stems.

The Verticalle company attracted attention with its spatial decorations made of plants, which are its hallmark. The clock made of variegated sedges, which was the central point of the exhibition, is an example of such a decoration. At the request of customers as municipalities or even Expo gardens, Verticalle builds, according to its own patent Modular Pot System, plant decorations, green walls, arches or balls, with a watering system included.

The Maki Plants company from Alanya, district of Antalya, specializes in growing more than 27 taxa of the Ficus genus. The production in 3 ha greenhouses is dominated by F. Benjamin, mainly as trunk trees, sometimes with braided shoots. Nowadays there is a growing interest in species with large leaves, such as Ficus benghalensis or Ficus elastica.

Succulents were presented by the Eren company from Sakaria, growing about 300 taxa starting 5 years ago as an addition to the original specialization, which is shrubs in containers as junipers and cypresses. Crassula plants in the assortment are the result of the hobby of the owner’s wife, Canan Eren, who also prepares compositions from these plants in containers of her own production.

During the show, there was a great opportunity to visit some nurseries that had a stand at the fair, especially in Yalova province. There are more than 40 of them located in the protected and natural area called Yalova Garden, named after Atatürk.

Kuzey Pyzaj, owned by Fatma Yetim, specializes in outdoor plant cultivation in containers, from Photinia spp., Euonymus spp., Hydrangea macrophylla, to several varieties of Roses in bush or espalier. The marketing and coordinator representative Nahide Atilla explained that she manages 17 ha of container fields and her tasks are to guarantee the quality of the plants, for example through the correct dosage of fertilizers and a conscious use of treatments to obtain healthy plants.

Yeşilvadi production nursery has two sites: one an area of 5,000 square meters in Istanbul-Sarıyer-Tarabya where the head office and the showroom are located, that offers services for landscape projects, planning, design, and consultancy for leading construction companies. The second site is the giant production nursery in Yalova Tigem, which is close to 70,000 square meters in total, including a greenhouse of over 4,000 square meters equipped with irrigation and a fertilization system.

Flowering potted plants, cyclamen and poinsettias distinguished the production of Gaye Süs Bitkileri. These species are in production in 6 ha of greenhouses from June to December, and in the rest of the year pansies and balcony and flower bed plants, such as geraniums, osteospermum, dahlias and carnations, are grown. 

Nergis Peyzaj, as explained by the production manager Bedihan Helvaci, started with the production of seasonal and perennial plants, then from 2000 focused on outdoor and landscaping plants with a wide range of products from Prunus cerasifera to Nigra Platanus acerifolia. The nursery is located on two sites for a total area of 40 hectares and employs more than 65 workers.

Ali Varol, owner of VRL Süs Bitkileri, a family business explained that he specializes not only in ornamental plant production but even in landscaping services as road city projects such as the 200-kilometer highway street from Istanbul to Izmir under the brand VarolGroup. All the services are included even the maintenance. The company exports to more than 22 countries and due to the greater demand for plants, they are involved in a new expansion project dedicated to nurseries, not far from Yalova Garden.