British Plants for Europe and California-based Altman Plants join forces

Plants For Europe Limited (PFE) is delighted to announce that it is now working with California-based Altman Plants, to bring plant varieties to Europe and the UK. 

Altman Plants has been breeding and growing plants for almost 50 years, in that time expanding from a Los Angeles garden to one of the largest horticultural growers in the US. The business remains family-owned, and passionate about plants.

The Altman Plants teams work right across the industry, from breeding programmes to trials, e-commerce to branded products across a variety of genera.

Altman Plants has chosen to work with PFE, an independent plant breeders’ agent, to protect, promote and license the output from three breeding programmes.

Agapanthus ‘Atomic Bloom’.

PFE will be working with Altman Plants on three distinct breeding programmes. They will begin with the winter-hardy, bright and bold Agapanthus Atomic Bloom, the first from an exciting Agapanthus development programme.

Altman is renowned internationally for their succulent breeding and production. In particular, the outstanding Star™ Aloe varieties developed by industry-leading breeder, Kelly Griffin, offer an exciting range of vibrant colours and will be made available to European and UK growers for the first time.

Altman’s True Bloom® Roses are the result of the revolutionary breeding process led by master rose breeder, Ping Lim. They combine the best features of hybrid tea flowering roses with superb shrub roses, resulting in disease-resistant, easy-to-grow varieties with a long season of colour and scent. The flowers are high petal count true rose blooms, from which comes the name.

These varieties must pass through an extensive no-spray trial process, both at Altman trial gardens and at independent evaluation locations, before they are brought to market, ensuring that the varieties thrive under a wide variety of growing and climatic conditions.

True Bloom® Rose varieties have already won several awards after trials.

Ken and Matt Altman, owners of Altman Plants, say: “We are a company that has an intense passion for plants and innovation. For many years, we have bred and developed new programmes for our retail partners that we also grow and produce in our greenhouses across the United States. For this reason, as a greenhouse grower ourselves, we have insight into what the grower demands in performance from new varieties, along with what succeeds for retailers and consumers. We are very excited to be partnering with the Plants for Europe team to bring our new plant developments to Europe and the UK.”

Ping Lim, master rose breeder, Altman Plants, says: “Making a more beautiful world is both a dream and a mission for plant breeders. Indeed, I am glad to share our team’s effort for more people to enjoy flowers. It is a great honor to be welcomed to Europe, especially with its very competitive standards for eco landscape.”

Graham Spencer, director, Plants For Europe Limited, says: “We are truly delighted to be working with the Altman team! They have a reputation for excellence, both as growers and as breeders, so it is an honour to be able to bring their varieties to our clients, including some of the best growers in the UK and in Europe. We are very excited by the potential of this partnership.”