A group of 16 flower and plant growers from the Netherlands visited New Covent Garden Flower Market in the early hours of Wednesday 30th September to see their products in the UK's biggest wholesale environment.

Decorum is a consortium of more than fifty Dutch growers, with all the businesses family-run and many now in their third or fourth generation. The group has exported plants since 1999, adding flowers in 2013. Account Manager Joan Petermeijer (pictured below centre), was delighted to see so many Decorum products on sale. "This is our first visit to New Covent Garden Market and we were very impressed with everything," she said.

Joan added: "The Flower Market is really, really well organised and the assortment is amazing. We could clearly see the Dutch influences, so we liked that. There are a lot of brands. We like to see Decorum the most but, of course, we have other colleagues in the Netherlands that are growing beautiful flowers and plants too."

The Decorum brand stands for quality, innovation and sustainability but, as growers, Decorum is never sure who they are working with in the supply chain as their plants and flowers are sold directly to wholesalers.

“Our direct clients are mainly export companies, and don’t often share information about their customers or the wholesalers behind them due to business confidentiality," said Joan. So it was great to spend some time with the different businesses and see for ourselves how much they value our products.”

As much as Decorum were interested in seeing their own produce, Joan said the group was particularly interested in meeting wholesalers who are already buying from the Netherlands but not from Decorum. “For us, it is important to get to know wholesalers who place a strong importance on buying high-quality,” she said. “This was a chance to talk about our products and potentially gain new customers.”

All 50 growers in the group must adhere to a strict list of requirements for their product to bear the Decorum name on their packaging. This includes the minimum number of flower buds on each plant or flower, the diameter and weight of the flower, plus the uniformity of each batch to ensure a consistent product every time.

Find out more about the individual growers behind the Decorum brand here.