The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) members consist of thousands of growers of flowers and ornamental plants around the world who are together united by one essential goal – promoting the place of plants in people’s lives.
AIPH hosts several conferences, webinars and events such as the International Grower of the Year award throughout the year. Read about these along with the latest news about the association’s activities.
AIPH’s key aim is to stimulate demand for ornamental trees, plants and flowers worldwide. We are committed to supporting growers in achieving this by protecting and promoting the interests of the industry.
FlowerTrials, the annual open days for the global bedding plant industry, was back in bloom from 11-14 June 2024, attracting 5,300 green professionals. Interest in the event is stable, with this year’s attendance five per cent up from 2023. Chapter Two of FCI’s FlowerTrials coverage focuses on Beekenkamp Plants, Royal Van Zanten, and Floritec.
Beekenkamp Plants
Bas van der Kraan has worked for the Dutch plant breeder, propagator, and marketeer Beekenkamp Plants since 2000. More recently, his specialism has included cutting-raised bedding plants.
Beekenkamp Plants’ Bas van der Kraan.
No wonder he first references Tea Petunias, a range of vegetatively propagated Petunias bred by Kerley&Co, a UK breeder of novel patio plants. Beekenkamp Plants is responsible for the worldwide distribution of Tea Petunias.
The latter unburden growers as they are early flowering, day-length neutral, compact trailing with good weather resistance and pot performance.
The cultivar ‘Tea Flamingo’ blooms in pastel pink, which appears greener under Beekenkamp’s tent structure. Outside in the trial field, deep pink dominated, freely overflowing into soft yellow.
The velvety veined ‘Tea Indigo Vein’ bears flowers in light purple to nearly black markings from the throat to the edge of each petal.
A work in progress is two new lines comprised of semi-trailing and upright Tea Petunias.
Spacestars is the brand under which Beekenkamp Plants sells its on-trend leaf Begonias with subcategories Spacestars Select, and Spacestars Spectrum comprised of five ‘fancy and deeply-lobed foliage’ and seven ‘patterned’ varieties, respectively. The cultivars ‘Haedi’, ‘Izar’, ‘Leda’, and ‘Syrma’ have been added to Spacestars Select.
Members of the Spacestars Select family make great indoor and outdoor plants. They have a short crop time (the shortest when days are longer) and can be grown at lower temperatures.
When passing an incredibly extensive range of LaBella Dahlia pinnata, trial goers saw a sea of moving colours and shapes.
In LaBella Grande Fun, eyecatchers included the two-toned Coral variety.
To help growers make more informed decisions, product managers ranged the more than 70 cultivars into seven categories: LaBella Maggiore (19-23cm pots solid colours), LaBella Maggiore Fun (19-23cm pots, extra-large flowers and including two-toned varieties), LaBella Grande Fun (for cultivation in potsizes 14-17cm, large flowers, early flowering), LaBella Medio (hassle-free in production and excellent outdoor performance), LaBella Medio Fun (pot sizes 10.5-13cm, well-branched, fun colours and easy to grow), Labella Piccolo (packs-10.5cm pots, compact growth habit), and Labella Dahlietta Surprise (fast-growing, speciality colours, compact).
The new ‘LaBella Maggiore Pomegranate’ stood out at the trials. In LaBella Grande Fun, eyecatchers included the two-toned ‘Red White’, and ‘Coral’ varieties.
Prominently present at the entrance of Beekenkamp Plants’ FlowerTrials presentation was Pericallis POP, a cutting-raised Pericallis which debuted at this year’s IPM show in Essen.
It is well-branched, features quality foliage, and is suited for growing at lower temperatures.
POP has a lush and full appearance owing to better branching. The combination of boldly coloured blooms that rise above sturdy foliage helps to make the plant visually appealing at retail. The new series features uniform growth across the seven different POP varieties.
Occupying pride of place: POP pericallis.
Royal Van Zanten
Royal Van Zanten put significant marketing muscle behind PaX pot Chrysanthemums, ideal for growing in packs of 10.5 cm or 12 cm pots. They are available in seven colours, genetically identical in habit and flowering.
Nick Nieuwesteeg (left) and Rob van der Helm, manager of marketing and business development and market manager at Royal Van Zanten, respectively, highlight PaX pot Chrysanthemums, ideal for growing in packs.
It is claimed that they are faster in response time, making them well-suited for black cloth cultivation. When grown following mother nature, plants begin flowering in weeks 39/40.
Another watchword at Royal Van Zanten was Jellyfish, a refreshingly new pot Chrysanthemum series featuring cultivars with an ultra-modern colour palette.
The members of the JellyFish family are colour mutants and, therefore, have the same growth habit. The plants can be used to create exciting and uniform mixes. JellyFish makes an excellent indoor and outdoor plant (5-25°C).
Sollinea is designed to attract Gen-Z shoppers, offering them pot Chrysanthemums in up-trend colours and flower shapes.
The standard pot chrysanthemum Sollinea is designed to attract Gen-Z shoppers.
In the world of Royal Van Zanten, awe-inspiring and trustworthy novelty plants, flowers, and plant care tips go hand in hand. Therefore, the company put its online poster maker in the limelight. The tool helps garden retailers and florists effortlessly create posters of plants with logos, prices, and barcodes.
In cut Chrysanthemums, Royal Van Zanten highlighted its Bonita series, which encompasses double-flowered cultivars in white (‘Bonita’), orange (‘Bonita Orange’), and yellow (‘Bonita Yellow’). Bonitas are available year-round and transport very well, and they have an excellent shelf life. They make ideal flowers for composing cheerful bouquets and arrangements.
In disbudded Chrysanthemums, Leto’s star is rising. Leto is a robust disbud with an exceptionally long vase life and holds up well during transport. It stands out for its canary yellow blooms, which nicely contrast with lush, dark green foliage.
One of the RVZ’s latest breeding breakthroughs in Chrysanthemums premiered at the world’s largest flower auction, Royal FloraHolland, in May 2023. The new spray variety, ‘Fabienne,’ is a creation of the Dutch masters in Chrysanthemum breeding Royal Van Zanten and is grown exclusively by River Flowers in Zaltbommel, Netherlands.
Featuring pale pink blooms that gracefully arise above dark green foliage, long-lasting Chrysanthemum ‘Fabienne is named after Royal FloraHolland’s auctioneer Fabienne Rood, who spotted the stunningly elegant flower while attending a flower trial at Royal Van Zanten. Rood has a long-lasting love affair with Chrysanthemums, which were long among the ornamentals she auctioned off on behalf of the growers.
The new cultivar has been available (under VBN code 128186) since week 18, 2023, with an expected year-round supply of 25,000 stems per week.
The commercial greenhouse production of ‘Fabienne’ is in trusted hands. Chrysanthemum grower Peter van Werken, from Zaltbommel, Netherlands, has 30 years of experience in Chrysanthemum growing. His River Flowers nursery spans 7ha and has become a household name in Chrysanthemums, with the varieties ‘Haydar’, ‘Chic’, and ‘Haydar Pink’ occupying pride of place.
The members of the JellyFish family are colour mutants and, therefore, have the same growth habit.
Floritec
If every gardener dreams of obtaining a perfectly flat lawn, achieving a level surface in commercial pot Chrysanthemum production is one of the first things a greenhouse grower looks for.
Floritec’s Rick Minck is modelling the company’s Astella and Starletta pot asters range.
Floritec’s seven-pot Chrysanthemum families—DaVinci, Dynamic, Heat, Elixer, Donavan, Jackson, and Beatles—are claimed to deliver a high standard of uniformity and crop health consistently. The top quality seen at Floritec’s product display did not fail to impress.
In its spotless breeding facility, which opened one year ago in Honselersdijk, sales manager Rick Minck pointed to ‘Elixer Dark Pink’, ‘Elixer Blush’ and ‘Elixer Yellow’, all three compact experimentals in the burgeoning Elixer family that is ideal for creating colourful mixes thanks to its attractive double flowers.
The daisy-type Donavan is the solution for growers seeking quick crop cycles. The brand-new series currently includes ‘Donavan Pink’, ‘Donavan Orange’, ‘Donavan Yellow’ and ‘Donavan White’, all with remarkable uniformity. Buds burst into bloom like clockwork, with the quickest growth right after spacing when production costs are high.
Heat is the speediest of all Floritec pot Chrysanthemum series brand names. Minck describes it as one of the bestselling lines thanks to its great consumer appeal, excellent colour retention, and long bloom period.
The single-flowered Jackson series includes five colours: ‘Jackson Bronze’, Jackson Lilac’, ‘Jackson Pink’, ‘Jackson White’, and ‘Jackson Sunny’. Jacksons are relatively fast-growing and ideal for incorporating into mixes.
In 2019, Floritec and Japanese Inochio Seikoen joined forces. The merger gave Floritec access to a rich Chrysanthemum genetics and breeders catalogue. It also allows for more significant investments in R&D as sister company Inochio Agriculture Research Center has ultra-modern R&D facilities for diagnosing pests and diseases and for water/soil analysis.
Inochio Seikoen has deep roots in Chrysanthemum breeding and propagation. The company has been developing innovative varieties for over 100 years. Most notable is its line of disbuds, which are extensively farmed in Japan with every imaginable attention to detail. The challenge right now is to make the Japanese disbudded Chrysanthemums fit for much more intensive production, as seen in Dutch greenhouses.
The first results seem promising. For example, the single-headed ‘Florencia’ response time is 53 days in the Netherlands, contrary to three months in Japan. The artisan cultivar is grown for its impressive size, reaching 16cm or more in diameter, and its elegant, intense purple appearance.
The disbudded ‘Laporta’ cultivar debuted last year. This pure white pompon type has a 46-day response time and highly sturdy blooms that reach between 11-12 cm in diameter.
The stand-alone variety ‘Sei Rewind’ in golden yellow/ glowing orange made many heads turn in the Floritec greenhouse. This Chrysanthemum is a niche disbud with thread-like florets that give it a more loose and open appearance.
In Santinis, Dutch grower alliance Zentoo—representing 110ha of diversified Chrysanthemum production—is about to embrace three colours from Floritec’s Miller series, which comprises nine different varieties. Next year, Zentoo is set to harvest the first Miller Santinis around week six. Estimated output: 90,000 stems per week.
Large-scale Chrysanthemum grower Kreling from Bruchem already has expertise in the Miller Santinis, recognisable by their filled flowers, growing a total of 130,000 stems per week, naturally in different hues than Zentoo.
On the corporate level, the news of the moment is the Memorandum of Cooperation between Floritec and Dataflor. The purpose of cooperation is to develop, grow and sell the iconic ‘Belgian’ garden mums.
Dataflor, based in Zonnebeke-Beselare, Belgium, is a third-generation family business with a rich history in cultivating and breeding garden mums. With its well-performing varieties, it has a solid market position in the Zonnebeke-Beselare region. It has gained international recognition with deliveries to Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy.
The collaboration will leverage the strengths of both companies: Dataflor’s expertise in garden mum breeding and product development and Floritec’s capacity for breeding, production, and global sales. The intention is to make the collaboration effective for the 2024/2025 season.
In pot Aster, the double-flowered Astella series includes Blue, Pink and White, all with a 37-day response time. Astellas are known for their excellent shelf life compared to competing varieties and need only one pinch.
The Starletta brand encompasses single-flowered pot Asters with more or less the same properties as its Astella sisters.
Dutch ornamental plant breeder and propagator Beekenkamp Plants will launch its latest breeding breakthrough; the LaBella Dahlia Grande Chocolate. This…
