Orticolario's fourth edition to take place in Italy in October

"Vivienne Westwood" rose

A recent press release says Orticolario, an event dedicated to advanced gardening, will have its fourth edition on Oct. 5-7, 2012 at Villa Erba (Lake Como), Italy.

This new edition is intended to stimulate the public through inspiring courses, in a combination of senses enhancing, in particular, hearing. The proposed theme is, "Sound emotions: A journey through the sounds and noises of a garden, pursuing sensations that originate from nature and from a place that appealed so much to movie director Luchino Visconti."

Plants and flowers will be at the heart of the event, with original and elegant ideas provided by more than 200 selected exhibitors from Italy and abroad. The fourth edition is dedicated orchids, and a setup conceived and designed by Alessandrio Valenza, an expert orchid grower, will be located in the Main Hall of Villa Erba.

Growers specializing in orchids will participate in Orticolario, including Floricoltura Riboni Alfredo, who will offer top-quality botanic species of the Paphiopelidum genus, which is very rare and therefore protected. The press release states that its peculiarity is that, unlike other orchids, it’s impossible to clone; therefore each specimen is different from all the others and fans go to extremes to collect them.

Ryanne Orchidée will bring from France the Bulbophyllum, characterized by truly unusual flowers, with strange and bizarre, sometimes even monstrous shapes.

The German company Röelke will address those that wish to start growing orchids, bringing to Orticolario boxes that contain four or five small orchid plants – the starter kit for a respectable orchid grower.

Finally, H2Orchids will offer rare and unusual botanic species and hybrids, as well as a miniature orchid selection.

New entries will not be limited to orchids this year.

Other “must-sees” at the event include the climbing plant Lygedium Japonicum of Garden Studio from Bologna, the Japanese maples of Giancarlo Stucchi from Agrate Brianza (Monza-Brianza), as well as the unusual and rare plants of Associazione Vivaio di Castel San Pietro from the Canton of Ticino, a nursery recovered by a group of young people, who employ immigrants and refugees. As usual, Orticolario will offer suggestions and solutions to renew the plants in one’s garden space.

This year, two new botanic entries will be made at Villa Erba during the show.

The first is the “Villa Erba” Iris, hybridized from the French Iris Cayeux: a tribute to the house on the Lario that appealed to Luchino Visconti. The iris has light blue petals and a white-bluish sepal with red hairs.

The second botanic new entry is the “Vivienne Westwood” Rose, created by Rose Barni from Pistoia. Barni decided to dedicate his latest creation to British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who is also patroness of the 2012 edition.

The fourth edition of Orticolario will begin October 5 at 12 a.m. and will be open to the public on Oct. 5-6 until 10 p.m. To learn more about the event or to purchase tickets online, visit www.orticolario.it.