16 - 23.07.2023 - superlative horticultural event

in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

62nd Congress of the "Communauté européenne des jeunes horticulteurs - CEJH " - European Community of Young Gardeners.

"Apprentice years are wandering years" The CEJH offers horticultural growth for horticulturist & gardener trainees on a European level. Beyond national borders, horticultural professionals enjoy intensive, green networking in a European context at the European Congress of Young Gardeners every year. The European meeting is an eminent stage in the "professional & personal maturing process", simply: the young gardening talent grows beyond itself.

Under the headline "Discover the unexpected green sides of Luxembourg, the last Grand Duchy in the world", the young gardeners invited to Luxembourg, under the organisation & coordination of the "Fédération Horticole Luxembourgeoise" - the FHL professional association of gardeners & florists, to the 62nd Congress of the "Communauté européenne des jeunes horticulteurs - CEJH ", which took place from 16 to 23 July in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. During one week, each of the young people was able to improve their skills in the fields of languages, plant knowledge, design and their inter-cultural knowledge. The CEJH Congress is held annually in a different European country on a rotating basis and has been doing so for more than 60 years.

Up to twenty-five young European gardeners from the entire green sector such as landscape gardeners, florists, nurserymen, ornamental plant and vegetable growers from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Sweden & the Czech Republic explored the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the green heart of Europe.

The varied programme included a number of first-class visits, such as the visit to the ecological river renaturation of the Petrusse with its sustainable green spaces in the urban recreation area of the city of Luxembourg, as well as the exploration of the "Underground's" in the city park of the famous gardener & garden designer "Edouard André", the casemates of fortress master Vauban, this with the friends of fortress history. The end of the first day was the visit of the market garden Kirsch on "Eecherfeld". Crowned by the official congress opening in the city palace Cercle-Cité, the 1st congress day of the Community of European Young Gardeners (CEJH) was attended by national personalities: Mr Maurice Bauer, Alderman of the City of Luxembourg, Mr Lex Delles, Minister of SMEs & Tourism and Mr Claude Haagen, Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture & Rural Development, partners and sponsors. It is already the 3rd time that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg hosts this congress event and the organisation & coordination is guaranteed by the FHL professional association, the business association of gardeners & florists.

Further highlights in the excellent congress programme were: the new infrastructures of the horticultural school of the "Lycée Technique Agricole" in Gilsdorf, as well as the rose garden of the "Château de Munsbach", which won the 'Award Garden of Excellence' of the "World Rose Society", the revitalisation of the industrial wastelands into a new city district and university campus, as well as the climbing of the blast furnaces to 40 metres in Belval. In addition, many innovative family businesses from floristry, horticulture & viticulture. The young gardeners learned more about the "LUGA-Luxembourg Urban Garden" project and the exchange programme for young landscape gardeners of the "European Landscape Contractors Association - ELCA". Finally, further "Luxembourgish" horticultural features enriched the abundant, unexpected, green CEJH congress programme: the new city park in the "Ban de Gasperich", once again the almost 69 metre high water tower by architect Jim Clemes, an unmistakable "landmark" on the territory of the city of Luxembourg.

Culinary gardening was also on the agenda with visits to the private gardens of the winegrower "Domaine Claude Bentz" in Remich-Mosel, the fruit farm "Pretemer Haff" in Limpach and the internationally award-winning cider producer "Ramborn Cider" in Born an der Sauer. Other forms of horticulture were discovered: the community-based agriculture with vegetable cultivation of the Terra cooperative in Eecherfeld, innovative mowing and cooling technology at the Van de Sluis Turf Farm in Limpach, and the variety of materials and the attractive new exhibition areas of the building materials supplier Léon Steffes in Alzingen. Cooling down and green diversity were discovered by the congress participants at the Gillen family business in Tandel: garden centre, tree nursery, landscape gardener and "Pool for Nature" supplier. The floristic colourfulness was covered in the congress programme with a visit to the specialist company Fleurs Wüst in Heisdorf, one of the largest family businesses in the sector of floristry with a garden centre in Luxembourg.

Special thanks go to the guides as well as the family businesses for the individual visits, who welcomed the European young gardeners so warmly and shared their green know-how with the extremely inquisitive congress participants. Many thanks for their commitment.

A very special thank you to all participants of this year's CEJH Congress for their incredible discipline and indescribable enthusiasm on every single day of the Congress. It was great to discover the unexpected, green sides of the Grand Duchy together with the congress participants. The atmosphere was indescribable, almost outstanding, at the opening of the congress everyone spoke of a CEJH community, on the last day of the week it was the CEJH family.

This European Youth Congress event was only possible thanks to the support of the CEJH Premium Partners: Ministry of Education, Youth & Children, Ministry of SMEs & Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture & Rural Development & the City of Luxembourg. The CEJH partners: Chamber of Crafts & Chamber of Labour, Luxembourg. The CEJH Junior Partners: Chamber of Agriculture, Luxembourg, Horticultural Insurance, Wiesbaden & Isogreen, Dudelange. And countless CEJH promoters, friends & fans.

The congress date for 2024 is also already fixed: 20-27 July in the beautiful Hanseatic city of Hamburg. We look forward to seeing you again.