By A'laa Koddous Allah The Spring Flowers Exhibition at the Orman Garden represents a standing invitation to all the lovers of flowers, trees, shrubs, landscaping and gardens to visit it and enjoy a special day. The exhibition is held every year and the 85th edition was inaugurated at the Orman Garden near Cairo University early this month. The show is always a colourful mixture of flowers, green spaces, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants and fruits. "I enjoy going to the exhibition every year," Zeinab Mohamed, a bride-to-be, told the Egyptian Mail. "I always buy different kinds of ornamental plants and flowers." Zeinab said that she hopes she could have her wedding photo session at the exhibition, as it has amazing scenery. The Orman Garden was established in 1875 during the reign of Khedive Ismail in order to supply palaces with fruit and vegetables. The garden was part of the Khedivial Palace. The Khedive imported a variety of trees and flowering plants from all over the world for the garden which was designed by French engineers. Th Orman Garden is one of the largest botanical gardens in the world and the exhibition has more than 600 kinds of rare plants and perennial trees.It also has a centre for training students in the Faculty of Agriculture on rare species of ornamental plants and flowers. There are 131 companies participating in the exhibition which is held on 28 acres of land. Ministries and affiliates of government agencies are participating in the exhibition, as well as charity associations, landscaping companies and companies in the business of ornamental products and garden supplies. The exhibition also has a number of companies involving Egyptian co-operation with other countries. They include Egyptian-Syrian and Egyptian-Jordanian as well as Egyptian-German and Egyptian-Dutch firms. "We specialise in producing landscape plants and we have plants that have been introduced for the first time in the Spring Flowers Exhibition, such as the Oud Al-Zaitoun," said Sayyed Fathy, who owns a nursery and takes part in the exhibition every year. He added that his company also imports seeds from the Netherlands, Italy and Germany and they have bookings for making landscapes for villas and tourist villages. The exhibition will remain open till April 25.
