Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
organization which awards AAS winners each year for their top-performing an-
nual bedding and vegetable plants Anon (
2013e
,
http://www.all-americaselections.
org/)
. In the USA, numerous floral exhibitions and conferences include the Ohio
Florists Association meeting in Columbus, Ohio Anon (
2013f
,
http://www.ofa.
org/)
, the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle, the Northwest Flower and
Garden Show in Washington and the Philadelphia Flower Show in Pennsylvania
Anon (
2013g
,
http://www.gardenshow.com/;
2013h
, www.theflowershow.com).
Throughout the rest of the Americas, numerous floral events keep the public and
industry up-to-date with the latest and best products and services. For example Ag-
riflor, in Quito, Ecuador is usually held biennially during September to October
highlighting an array of cut flowers, especially cut roses Anon (
2013i
, http://www.
eventseye.com/fairs/f-florecuador-agriflor-8221-1.html;
2013j
,
http://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=dT9BYsm7Pv0)
. Proflora is another central American confer-
ence held biennially in Bogota, Colombia to highlight numerous cut flower crops
produced in Colombia Anon (
2013n
, http://www.proflora.org.co/home.php).
Horticultural Production
Historically many flowers were harvested from fields, forests, natural areas, and
home gardens. As cities grew there was a corresponding cultural awareness and an
increase in aristocratic demand for high quality flowers, there was a move to their
commercial production in cultivated fields, and specifically controlled environment
structures (e.g. cold frames, hot beds, shade houses, greenhouses, conservatories,
low/high tunnels), all of which were designed and built for the growth and harvest
of flower and food crops. The first structures preceding those of greenhouses were
forcing houses for vegetables, built in 500 bc by the Romans. Seneca (who died in
65 ad) later described “…the use of window-panes [
specularia
] which admit the
clear light through a translucent slab of mica (
lapis specularis
)” or transparent stone
(
perspicua gemma
) as a glazing material (
cf.
Epistle XC; Bromehead
1943
). Such
specularia were used to let sunlight in but keep wind out, such that Emperors Nero
(37-68 ad) and Tiberius (17-37 ad) both had cucumbers grown year round (Pliny
the Younger, XXXVI 22 § 46; XIX 64;
cf.
Smith
1893
; Bromehead
1943
).
As the invention of walls with translucent mica, flues for heat circulation (100
ad) and sheet glass (300 ad) occurred, larger wall areas could be used for light
although the roof was still solid with tiles or shingles. The building of orangeries
commenced in 1545 (Padua, Italy) and by the early 1600s, all major castles and
aristocratic families installed them across Europe (Nelson
2003
). While the citrus
flowers provided fragrance and the fruit Vitamin C for visiting guests, the main at-
traction was the botanical collection of flowering plants used to grace the banquet
tables with floral designs. The development of the Golden Age of The Netherlands,
with its immense sea power and the Dutch East and West India Companies in the
1600s, gave rise to the creation of the modern greenhouse industry (Nelson
2003
).
The Dutch discovered how to dig and force lilac bushes (
Syringa vulgaris
) into
