It’s held only once every five years, so Road Trips Gardeners are anxiously booking their tickets to Belgium for Floralies 2010. The 34th edition of the show, to be held April 17-25, 2010, is organized by the Royal Agriculture and Horticulture Society in the Flanders Expo (Sint-Denijs-Westrem), Ghent, Belgium.

Flowers — symbols of joy, felicity, happiness and friendship — take center stage at the 2010 Ghent Floralies, which spotlights the universal language and emotions of flowers. Floriculturists will display their craftsmanship, skills and ‘green jewels’, while landscape architects, international florists, creative designers and artists will combine flowers and plants to summon the ultimate emotion. There’s a look at the future of landscape architecture, and demonstrations of the links between floriculture products and luxury items such as perfume and wellness.

One unique display is bamboo: visitors are encouraged to “watch it grow”– fast-sprouting bamboo can grow as much as a meter per day!

More than 22,000 square meters of soil will be hauled in to create the 4.5 hectares (about 11.12 acres) of gardens. Some 305 exhibitors are expected, not only from Belgium, but also Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, France, Kenya, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. each day. Admission is 20 €.

For more information on visiting Ghent (which is in the region of Belgium called Flanders), go online.