Topical

When choosing the right variety of Gypsophila for your flower shop, it’s essential to consider quality, versatility, and shelf life. Here are three top tips for selecting the best Gypsophila options:

Limonium: fresh & dried
From pale pink to deep dark purple. Limonium's colourful crisp flowers are beautiful in lush (picking) bouquets, but of course you can also dry them well. For a dried bouquet or flower cloud, for example. Tip! Also use dried Limonium - according to the Slow Life flower trend - in fresh autumn and winter bouquets. Klaver Flowers grows different varieties of Limonium, such as Diamond Blush, Lilac, Oshi Pink and Tiffany Diamond. The latest introduction is Limonium ‘Skylight’, a light purple variety with beautifully branched stems and a particularly long vase life.

Rijk de Jongh is founder and owner of a Ranunculus farm. The Ranunculus is an early bloomer and consequently a typical spring flower. The flower grows from wildly shaped tubers, which are also referred to as claws.

Increasingly more florists and consumers consider it important that the products they buy are as sustainable as possible.In an interview with grower Geert op ’t Hof, who has been working towards a completely organic flower farm for many years now, we examined how that works.

“It’s like an experimental garden here. I’m always working with new varieties, including Nerine, Eremurus and Agapanthus. The permanent greenhouse alone contains thirty varieties of Nerine. I am testing those for breeder and neighbour Bas van Keulen. Together we walk through the greenhouse once a week to make a selection: which can stay and will we be taking to market? We just pick them out: it’s about gut feeling. Only in terms of colour do I sometimes get it wrong. A purple and white Calla didn’t work. My girlfriend Wapke knows much better which colours will sell. A Nerine in a colour that the breeder and I called ‘underpants colour’ appealed very strongly to her and other women. So we’ll hang on to that one!''

Three florists in an experimental plot filled with Hypericum: that’s going to result in some stunning bouquets.

Breeding is an ongoing process. Peter van Noort, Manager Genetics at breeding company Evanthia, likes to illustrate this with an example. “Japanese Matthoila has a better lifespan than we see in Europe; this type has more robust woody stems. On the other hand, the European Matthiola offers the benefit that plant growers can select for single and double flowers on the basis of the leaf colour, whereby double flowers are desirable. We have combined the good properties of these two types in a new series. This is a real game changer for all the links in the supply chain, from growers of young plants through to consumers: selectable cultivars with fabulous full double flowers with a much better lifespan.”