Feature: Egypt's botanic garden more colorful as 130 exhibitors contest in annual flora fair

An Egyptian young woman takes a picture of her husband who is surrounded by rare kinds of colorful flowers at one of the flower display yards; a little boy buys a red rose to give as a gift to his mother; an old lady buys some decoration plants to place in her home balcony.

These are some of the visitors of Egypt's Orman Botanic Garden in Giza, near the capital Cairo, which looks more colorful and attractive these days as 130 exhibitors display their flowers, plants, seedlings and botanic accessories in the annual spring flora exhibition "EXPO 2016."

Inaugurated by the agriculture minister on Saturday and goes on until May 2, the fair is held around the time of spring celebrations and the Mother's Day, which is celebrated in Egypt on March 21, featuring a large variety of common and rare flowers and plants in one of the largest and oldest gardens in the country, built in 1873 over 28 acres of land.

"This is the oldest flora exhibition in the Middle East and the whole world. It is the 84th session for the fair that flourishes the garden with visitors who enjoy the beautiful views," Sayyid Hussein Ghanem, Manager of Orman Botanic Garden, told Xinhua.

He added that there is cooperation between Egyptian companies and Dutch and German ones in the fair and there is also an Emirati-Sudanese company as one of the 130 exhibitors.

"Since it includes foreign companies, we're working with the agriculture ministry to turn it into an international flora exhibition," the manager said, noting the ministry provides great support for exhibitors through subsidized rent during the fair.

The exhibition brings together plant breeders, floriculturists and wholesalers with exporters and importers, while visitors come to the fair not only to purchase flowers and plants but also to enjoy the stunning collection and the fragrant fresh air.

Hoda, an old lady in her 60's, said she came to the exhibition every year as she could buy all the flowers and plants she wanted at cheaper prices compared to those in stores elsewhere throughout the year.

"Now my car is full with flowers and plants I bought from the fair, such as wallflowers, garonia, vinca and some fruit trees. There is no space in the car to buy any more," the lady told Xinhua with a smile, adding the exhibition was beautiful and the arrangement of flowers was breathtaking.

At his display yard in the exhibition, engineer Atef Bakhit, from the agriculture and landscape sector of Orascom firm, was talking to a couple customers and explaining to them how to take care of the flowers they just bought.

"The fair is by all means successful this year because of the country's stability, and salability is good although we're just in the first days of the exhibition," the exhibitor told Xinhua, noting female customers outnumbered male ones.

He continued that the fair saw many visitors and customers on the Mother's Day who bought flowers and aromatic plants as gifts, adding the most salable plants for his store, besides the flowers, were gardenia, lemongrass, mint and thyme.

At one of the flower display yards, Omar Ismail, a 13-year-old boy, was playing with his little sister near a fountain while his mother, aunt and grandmother were buying flowers inside the store.

"My mother is inside to buy some rare roses and sunflowers. The place is full of beautiful flowers and trees. I love the fountains outside the stores so much too," the boy said excitedly.

Everywhere in the fair, the display tents, booths, yards and stores feature different and rare kinds of plants and flowers such as cactus plants, paulownia trees, lucky bamboos and many others.

However, for the first time in the exhibition, there is an exhibitor displaying carved wooden flowers with large leaves and different colors that can be used for decoration purposes.

"They are all handmade as part of fine art without any machine work. These large-sized pieces fit more for closed places, but next year we will produce different wooden flowers suitable for open spaces and gardens to meet all demands," said Abdel-Monsif al-Sayyid, designer and producer of the wooden flowers.

Although the fair is concerned with plants and flowers, there were many customers moving around at an ornamental fish and bird store, the middle part of whose floor serves as a fish basin with some large and small fishes swimming, while cages of parrots, sparrows and chicken are vertically lined up at each side.

"There is high demand for ornamental fish during the exhibition as the movement of fish raises histamine rate in the brain and gives a feeling of peace, tranquility and happiness. They also teach children mercy, patience and responsibility," Khairy Farouk, manager of Blue Bubbles store, told Xinhua during the exhibition. Endit