德国埃森国际植物、园艺技术、花卉及营销专业展览会（IPM ESSEN），是世界规模最大、水平最高、最具影响力的国际植物专业展会之一，该展从1982开始举办，每年一届在埃森国际展览中心举行，展出内容涉及植物技术、园艺资材温室设备、花卉花艺及销售几大主题，在国际植物园艺界占有举足轻重的地位。
该展会的展出面积达15万平方米，来自近50个国家的1500多家国际知名企业和参展商在16个展厅展示了其最新植物品种、园艺技术、花艺作品等，并有世界著名花艺设计师现场表演。吸引了来自世界90多个国的6万名专业贸易观众参观采购，其中74%以上为该领域专业人士及企业高层决策人。根据欧洲园艺协会和展览会统计，参展商和采购商每年约有85％的贸易合同和采购协议在展会现场签订，该展会是国际园艺植物界最重要的贸易桥梁。
开发欧洲市场走向世界，获得贸易机会，展示自身形象，了解最新行业流行趋势及高科技信息，每年埃森国际植物展将是各国植物园艺专业人士不容错过的世界盛会。
展品范围(Show Products):
各类绿色植物、观叶植物、盆花水，水栽植物，鲜切花；种子、种苗、种球；观赏苗木、草坪，苗圃；泥炭土、花肥、介质、病虫害防止等；花艺，手工花艺，花卉装饰，花园，绢花，花篮，花盆，插花布，干花，人造花，装饰植物；温室设备，灌溉设备，盆栽及包装机械、园林机械、保鲜技术及设备等；包装材料、园艺资料、园艺工具、专业出版物、网站；世界著名花艺设计师现场表演；专业技术讲座及专业论坛。
展会报告(Show Reports):
Final Report: Great atmosphere, strong conversations: IPM ESSEN 2026 sends positive signals for the horticultural industry
“IPM ESSEN is the central international platform for orientation, exchange and future solutions,” summarises Oliver P. Kuhrt, CEO of Messe Essen. “Networking within the horticultural industry is essential today – the key to identifying trends early, finding answers together to structural challenges and consistently seizing new opportunities.” High economic pressure, uncertain markets and rising requirements in production and marketing shaped many discussions – at the same time, a strong determination to shape the future was clearly felt. Accordingly, demand was high for information, new technologies, innovative products and contemporary sales concepts to position businesses sustainably and for the long term. From 27 to 30 January, almost 40,000 trade visitors attended the 42nd world-leading horticulture trade fair.
A positive signal in challenging times: with 1,476 exhibiting companies, IPM ESSEN 2026 recorded three per cent more exhibitors than the previous year. The industry perceived this as a clear sign of confidence and relevance. The return of individual companies also underlined the fair’s attractiveness as an international business platform. According to a survey, more than 85 per cent of exhibitors intend to take part again.
In terms of content, the fair reflected the industry’s core task: making innovations market-ready, conserving resources, reaching new target groups and visibly embedding horticulture’s societal importance. “once again, IPM ESSEN has proven to be the showcase of the green industry – and at the same time the central meeting point and marketplace for gardeners from all over the world. Here, it has once again become clear how innovatively horticulture is responding to current challenges,” concludes Eva Kähler-Theuerkauf, President of the Central Horticultural Association and the Horticultural Association of North Rhine-Westphalia.
High international participation and decision-making authority
Feedback from the visitor survey underlines IPM ESSEN’s importance as an international decision-makers’ platform. 41 per cent of respondents travelled from abroad. Among international trade visitors, the Netherlands formed the largest visitor group, followed by Italy and other European markets such as the Czech Republic, Belgium, France and Romania. Great Britain/Northern Ireland, Spain and the USA were also among the most important countries of origin. At the same time, the trade fair was a place for concrete business initiation: at the time of the survey, 22 per cent of trade visitors stated that they place orders directly at IPM ESSEN. A further 63 per cent plan purchases afterwards on the basis of the contacts and information gained. Visitor quality remained high: 68 per cent of respondents described themselves as decision-makers.
Full supporting programme: knowledge, trends and inspiration up close
IPM ESSEN 2026 impressed with a packed supporting programme – as extensive as rarely before. The Gardeners’ Forum in Hall 2 and the Innovation Center Horticultural Technology in Hall 4 attracted particularly strong interest and scored with top-class lectures. Highlights included the panel discussion “Fairtrade strengthens women” and Hexafarms’ product presentation “Let our AI interpret your climate – 24/7”. It became clear how strongly the industry is currently looking for context, best practices and practical solutions – from production and marketing through to strategic topics for the future.
The new Woodland Arena in Hall 7 was especially well received. It provided answers to pressing questions about climate-adapted and climate-positive urban greening and made the growing societal relevance of horticulture visible: urban resilience, quality of life and climate-adapted green concepts are increasingly coming into focus – an important lever to open up perspectives for the sector and strengthen its relevance in the public sphere and politics. Audience favourites included the talks “Woody plants for the future – plant selection for flood-prone areas” and “Biodiversity begins in the genes – the importance of native woody plants”.
Sustainable horticulture and new approaches to customer engagement
Peat-reduced and environmentally friendly substrates were not only a key topic at exhibition stands at IPM ESSEN. At the International Plant Fair in Essen, the first “round table” discussions on phasing out the use of peat and possible alternatives were launched. Direct exchange among all stakeholders was the focus – practical, solution-oriented and with clearly high attention. At a high-level meeting of the green associations, Silvia Breher, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, also answered participants’ questions – a visible sign that IPM ESSEN also serves as a dialogue platform at the interface between industry organisations and politics.
Climate-resilient plants remain a key field for new breeding and product developments. At the same time, it became clear that the market is increasingly moving towards plant concepts that convey a lifestyle, with less focus on the individual product itself. In addition, sustainable and smart production, alternative materials, packaging and the circular economy came into focus – not as an add-on, but as a strategic necessity.
The transformation of communication and sales was also a noticeable focus. With the new content creator event “Green Vibes”, social media marketing was given its own stage: the industry is also changing in how it addresses target groups. online retail is considered a major field for the future – especially for products such as flowers and plants, which have so far been purchased primarily in brick-and-mortar stores. In this context, new access and convenience solutions were presented, such as flower vending machines or smart gardening products designed to make access to flowers and plants as easy as possible.
The IPM Flower Stage attracted great attention with its exceptionally diverse floristry programme. International floral designers brought the fascinating world of flower arranging live to the revolving stage. The Hawaiian show “The Spirit of Aloha” and the cross-country performance by Carles J. Fontanillas, Alex Segura, Rudy Casati and Iza Tkaczyk in “Floos – the crafters’ secret” were especially met with enthusiasm.
The IPM Discovery Center by Kahler was a magnet for buyers from food retail as well as DIY store and garden centre chains. Realistic POS set-ups provided inspiration for sales-promoting customer engagement.
IPM ESSEN 2027
The next world-leading horticulture trade fair will take place from 26 to 29 January 2027 at Messe Essen.
