Dignitaries impressed by hosting of summit
Horticultural dignitaries from around the world were impressed by Spalding's efforts in hosting the 2008 World Tulip Summit, according to organisers.
Tulip experts from Australia, Canada, America and Holland flew in for the landmark event, the first of its kind to be held outside of a capital city.
Among the guest speakers were Sally Petitt, of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Richard Wilford, of Kew Gardens, and Summit President Michel Gauthier from Canada.
The Summit was held in the South Holland Centre and organised by Springfields Horticultural Society chief executive David Norton.
The event drew up a number of interesting debates with topics including tulips in the arts, the finding of the first tulips in Afghanistan and new approaches to growing tulips, including putting alcohol in the bulbs to give more vivid colours, albeit with a shortened growth.
He said: "The event exceeded most people's expectations in terms of quality of the speakers and the delegates were full of praise for how we organised the event and the nice mix of tulip related talks presented.
"The experts were passing on aspects of their research which was very interesting for local growers and gives new ideas for future uses of the bulb.
"It was a very welcome event for our small market town and everybody who was there has gone back to their countries with nothing but good things to say about what we did."
The climax of the event on Friday, May 2, saw the farewell and handover to Skagit Valley in Washington, USA, which will be the setting of the 2010 World Tulip Summit, while a deal was brokered to host the 2012 Summit in Holland.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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