Global reach

A group of green-industry professionals from Shanghai, China, recently visited North Carolina, opening the door for a horticultural relationship. The trade delegation traveled to the United States to find new ornamental plants for China's landscape industry.
 
A trade route between North Carolina and China would be a boon for the state's growers. And Peter Thornton, assistant director of international marketing at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDACS), is mapping out a plan. He's in the early stages of due diligence. Thornton and his staff are following up with the group, translating lots of notes and sending invitations for the delegation to return.
 
"This is an ongoing project that has to be sustained over time to see success," he said. "You don't do million-dollar sales with someone you just met. You develop a relationship."
 
Thornton's ultimate goal is for North Carolina to be home to an international distributorship network.
 
"We need a company who can consolidate product, get the phytosanitary certificates and ship the product," he said. "North Carolina could be very competitive if we can make this happen." 
 
The delegation was made up of three landscape architects, two seed company representatives, someone from the Shanghai Forestry Station and an online business-to-business nursery products retailer. One of their stops was Carolina Native Nursery (pictured) in Asheville, N.C. Owner Bill Jones was brimming with excitement, like a child on Christmas morning.
"It was very exciting," Jones said. "This was a unique opportunity to meet fellow plant enthusiasts truly from across the globe."
 
Jones shared with the group how his company produces fully rooted native azaleas from seed in 3-gallon pots in three years. They toured the greenhouse where the seedling flats are produced.
 
"The group was amazed at the number of seedlings one flat contained, and the number of liners that were available," Jones said. "They seemed impressed by the size of the liners – in Rootmaker flats of 18 cells – compared to the plants still in the seed flats."
 
Jones proudly showed his 12 varieties of azaleas, four native rhodies and Pieris floribunda – none of which the group had ever seen.
 
Read the rest here:
http://www.nurserymanagementonline.com/nm1011-green-industry-trade-china.aspx