German Federal Garden Show

Wow, what a headline! If this doesn't bring in the hits, I don't know what will!!! Things are really hotting up here in the west. Last weekend I hit up the German Federal Garden Show (known as BUGA) in Koblenz, with two of our interns here at just so euro. I had no idea really what to expect as I generally head to sports events on Saturdays, but it seemed cultural so I thought we should head along. (These young journos have got to have some sort of benefit out of this whole thing).

One thing I had definitely been expecting though were some great flowers. I don't know... purple dandelions, a bit of kangaroo paw action, tiger-striped lillies, blue roses, something out of the ordinary. Instead, there were basically no flowers or really any living plants of any type on display. What was going on?

It might have had something to do with the location. The event took place in the Koblenz city centre and up on the site of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, a dusty plateau covered in old ruins and gravel situated high above the city.  Not exactly the most lush, fauna-inducing locations I could think of.

There was one saving grace though. The two spots were linked by a brand-spanking-new Doppelmayr gondela which stretches almost a kilometre over the Rhein river. The thing must have cost the earth. On the other hand, this masterpiece of Austro-German engineering might explain the exorbitant ticket prices.

20 Euros was the damage incurred for a day of fun at the German Federal Garden Show. You could buy yourself a trip to Leverkusen for that much ...not that you'd necessarily want to go there... but still!

I reckon, if Germany wants to get people back in to flowers again they need to make garden shows more accessible. These sorts of events can't be just for the boat-shoe wearing elite, or the busloads full of OAPs from southern Germany. Everyone deserves to come into a flower show and have a bit of a gander around. Of course we at just so euro got in for cheap due to our connections with the chap on the side gate, but that's not the point.

Germany is losing horticulturalists BY THE DAY because of things like this. Look at this young wayward visitor.... He had even taken to planking out of sheer boredom. Shame on you Buga, shame!