The Antalya Expo 2016, which runs from April to October, will feature a UK garden which will be designed by Adam Frost on behalf of UK horticulture industry.
The theme of the garden is ?One big family of gardeners?, representing both the unique world-renowned style of the British garden and the fabulous variety of plants which we enjoy growing from the family of nations around the world.
HTA head of horticulture Raoul Curtis-Machin is Commissioner-General of the UK garden and the official participant is the UK Government Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The official participation contract was signed in front on Turkish media on Saturday 27 February.
The aim of the garden is to promote UK garden tourism, UK horticulture training, design skills and horticultural expertise. UK garden tourism currently brings in approximately ?11 billion in revenue and has great potential for growth. 2016 is Visit Britain?s Year of the Garden.
The industry is also hoping to persuade a UK city to host an international horticultural Expo (the last one was Stoke Garden Festival in 1986). This is one of the twelve asks of industry and government in the Ornamentals Roundtable.
With a theme of ?Cultivating a Green Life for Future Generations? the Antalya Expo will run from 23 April to 30 October.? One of the world?s top ten favourite cities to visit Antalya is known as ?the pearl of the Mediterranean? and is rich with natural beauty and historical interest.
Garden Designer Adam Frost said: ?The British horticulture industry has so much to shout about, so it is a privilege to take a little part of that to Turkey.?
Raoul Curtis-Machin said: ?We are excited about promoting UK horticulture on this international platform. There are forecast to be at least eight million local and international visitors to the Expo which is a great opportunity for us to showcase our world class horticulture. It?s more than 20 years since the UK last hosted a horticultural Expo. Turkey is a great country, and Antalya is a paradise location for an Expo. We hope that this garden will inspire British cities, and that their leaders see the potential of what it could bring to them.?
