by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Marwan al-Salamony, a high school student, was examining pots of colorful flowers on display in a famous annual flora exhibition held in Orman Botanic Garden in Giza Province near the Egyptian capital Cairo.
He fixed his eyes on a pot of flowers, picked it up, examined it and rushed to the salesman to pay for it.
"I am buying these flowers for my mother as a Mothers' Day gift, for my mother loves flowers so much," the teenager told Xinhua after paying for the gift, noting that many of his friends come to the annual flora fair for the same reason as it coincides with the Mothers' Day in Egypt.
Salamony is one of hundreds of visitors who showed up on the first day of the 45-day flower exhibition held by the Ministry of Agriculture, which kicked off on Thursday.
One of the display yards of the exhibition showed different types of decoration flowers and shrubs, including geranium, petunia, magnolia, burnfelsia, dracaena draco, syzygium cumini or jambolan, zamia, grevillea robusta or silky oak and bougainvillea.
"We are specialized in geranium and petunia, the most popular flowers in the world today, as well as all types of shrubs and ground covers," said Ahmed Amer, an exhibitor and owner of an agricultural production company.
It is the 35th year for Amer's company to take part in the exhibition, which he said is developing year after year to catch up with the world's rapid development in the field of decoration flowers and agricultural products.
"We have German partners and we export 70 percent of our products to European and Arab countries," the exhibitor told Xinhua.
Covering an area of 58,800 square meters, half of Orman Botanic Garden, the exhibition displays about 600 types of flowers and shrubs at affordable prices. It also exhibits agricultural production machines and equipment, gardening accessories, planting materials and irrigation tools.
At another section, a company exhibited a number of fountains with different shapes and sizes as well as garden benches, chairs, bar counters and other outdoor accessories.
"It is our fifth year to join this annual flora fair. All our products are designed and made in Egypt. We believe it will be a promising exhibition this year and we hope for more salability despite some recession in the market," said Reda Aboseif, also an exhibitor.
The first day of the exhibition saw throngs of visitors of different ages and even nationalities who came to buy flowers or shrubs as gifts or for decoration or business.
Jenna Ferrecchia, an American flight attendant who has been living in Cairo for eight years, said she came to see exotic flowers native to the Middle East region and buy some to be kept at home.
"I just bought a primula. I believe they do a very good job here, surprising me with very nice exhibitions," she said.
"I believe some of the companies have very nice setups. There are some nice smaller gardens and some professional landscapers here. I think they make a very nice display and it seems it took them a very long time to set it up," the American woman added.
This year's exhibition was inaugurated by the Egyptian minister of agriculture. The opening ceremony was also attended by ministers of supplies and sports as well as the governor of Giza.
Al-Saady Badawy, supervisor of the agriculture ministry's botanic gardens, said the expo hosts various activities including featuring landscape accessories, botanic products, cactuses, irrigation networks and gardening tools.
"Whoever would like to establish a garden or a park will find all necessary elements available in the exhibition," the official told Xinhua at the office of the garden's manager.
For his part, Mahmoud Zaki, head of the central administration for operation and environment at the ministry, said the exhibition is expected to attract more than 1 million visitors during the 45 days.
Some exhibitors have partnerships with foreign companies, he pointed out.
"We're planning to turn the event into an international flora expo and we're preparing for it from now," Zaki noted.
