FlowerTrials continues to be an unmissable open-house event for bedding plant industry (1)

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 One of FCI’s FlowerTrials 2024 coverage focuses on Volmary, Selecta One, and HilverdaFlorist.

From young plant producers and growers over wholesalers and retailers to green marketing experts and suppliers, industry professionals working with pot and bedding plants from over 80 countries gathered to seek inspiration for future assortments and discover the latest trends in what is Europe’s biggest pre-summer bedding plants showcase.

While the number of visitors is always interesting, there’s an overall consensus among the FlowerTrials exhibitors that the quality of the visitors comes first.

Marjolein Kuyucu-Lodder, FlowerTrials chairman, says, “This year, our exhibitors were delighted with the visitors’ interest and the value of the conversations.”

Meeting customers from all over the world who are genuinely interested in the products on show in a relaxed atmosphere is FlowerTrials’ major raison d’être in the pot and bedding plant calendar.

This year, Kolster B.V. and Schreurs Holland were among the first-time exhibitors.

Wouter den Hollander, sales manager at Kolster B.V., noted, “Last year, our location was just a host for the event. We saw the potential of showing our own assortment and, this year, joined as members. Together with our FlowerTrials partners HoKo Breeding and Walter Blom, we have been overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of visitors this year. We will certainly be back in 2025.”

FlowerTrials members are already looking forward to opening their doors again next year in week 24 to meet with all those interested in ornamental horticulture. Mark the dates 10th to 13th June 2025 in your diary now.

Volmary

German plant breeder and propagator Volmary is celebrating 100 years in business next year; they never cease to amaze with what is probably one of FlowerTrials most wide-ranging product displays, including patio plants, traditional bedding, potted herbs, and gourmet vegetables and fruits.

Volmary’s Bernd Wenninghoff models a five-litre container planted with three buddleia Summer Bird Patio Blue plants, which create an instant impact on patios, decks, and balconies.

Most notably, Volmary is betting big on culinary and medicinal herbs, with an incredibly large range of basil taking pride of place.

This name basil derives from the Mycenaean Greek and Ancient Greek basileús (βᾰσῐλεύς) or basíleios (βασίλειος), meaning as much as ‘king’ or ‘master’, a nod to the herb’s almost sacred status in ancient civilisations. Legend has it, for example, that the herb was only to be severed with tools made out of noble metals to avoid undoing all its healing properties and flavours.

Fast forward to today, Volmary’s 13 different leaf basils and a myriad of other potted herb cultivars begin their journey to the growers’ greenhouses from Türkiye.

In Antalya, cuttings are harvested year-round from the mother stock, shipped and subsequently rooted inside the company’s greenhouses in Münster.

Here, the plug plants provide resilience, efficiency, and genetic stability for Volmary’s customers at home and abroad, who grow plantlets on into finished pots ready for retail.

Volmary’s cutting-raised basil helps to reduce the detrimental impact on natural resources and the environment in different ways.
The news of the moment is that Volmary is now selling its organically grown herb and vegetable young plants using the EU’s Common Organic Label, easily recognisable by the logo that features a green flag with the European star leaf plus a code (in the case of Volmary DE-Oko-013) that corresponds to the control body and the place of agricultural production.

Growing herbs brings the inevitable threat of pests such as aphids and diseases such as Fusarium wilt and downy mildew. Several cultivars, including Magic White and Magic Blue, are tolerant to basil downy mildew.

For a few years, Volmary has promoted the biostimulants sold under the Austrian brand Multikraft as an effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable solution to increasing nutrient uptake and use in plants. The application of the product results in well-developed root systems and sturdier stems and foliage that are less prone to pest attacks.

I am candidly admitting to you, my readers, that promoting the company’s range of leaf basil is selfish on my part because, as a consumer, I want to be able to buy potted basil at my supermarket that lasts as long for me as Volmary’s basil that thrives for over six months on my balcony.

When grown outside in big containers in full sun and adequately watered, Copa basil allows consumers to harvest fresh basil from early summer until the first frost.

For all the beauty of the myriad of pot chrysanthemums, the splendour of the latest Pelargonium, eye-catching calibrachoas and petunias seen during decades of FlowerTrials, I believe that – from a great-value-for-money and sustainability perspective – nothing rivals with Volmary’s range of cutting-raised basil sold under the Copa name.

Growing it outdoors in big pots can be incredibly rewarding, contrary to the mainstream seed-raised basil sold as a supermarket staple, which often dies within a week when grown indoors.

Simply because consumers miss the small details of growing basil successfully over a longer period, this situation leads to tons of droopy and spent basil plants, peat and plastic pots ending up in the landfill within a few days, am I right?

Conversely, when grown outside in big containers in full sun and adequately watered, Copa basil allows consumers to harvest fresh basil from early summer until the first frost. It not only tastes delicious; its dark or contrasting-coloured foliage also helps to transform culinary creations into visual masterpieces.

This year, Volmary added Copa Green to its Copa series. It is a green, upright, robust basil medium-sized with slightly curved leaves.
Other Volmary highlights included the new Sunny Susy Orange & Red variety in the cutting-raised Thunbergia alata Sunny Susy series. This variety features heart-shaped leaves, among which emerge blooms adorned with red and orange striped petals and a dark centre.

New in the company’s cutting-raised Corleone-branded Coreopsis series is Corleone Early Red & Gold, whose early flowering and compact growth habit stands out.

Sweetly scented buddleia is a magnet for pollinators, but keeping its vigorous growth in check can be challenging.

With this in mind, Volmary introduced the compact, 50-80cm tall buddleia Summer Bird Patio Blue with reasonably upright stems bearing dense particles of violet-white flowers. Volmary’s Bernd Wenninghoff modelled a five-litre container, including three plants, to instantly impact patios, decks, and balconies.

Dahlia x hortensis Pink&Cream is the latest addition to Volmary ’s compact line of cutting-raised Lubega Dahlias, which are ideal for growing in pots and containers. Lubegas, bred by Volmary, are synonyms for earliness, fully double blooms, and versatility.

Lubega XL is the largest of all Lubega Dahlias and is suited for growing in larger pot sizes. New is Lubega XL Orange, with giant blooms that arise above deep green foliage. Lubegas are naturally self-branching. However, one pinch is recommended after the plants have rooted.

New is Lubega XL Orange with giant blooms that arise above deep green foliage.

Volmary is also famed for its wide range of edibles, which goes far beyond grafted tomatoes and peppers.

Sweet potatoes are all the rage right now because they boast great flavour and are packed with fibre, beta-caratone and micronutrients.

At the trials, visitors learnt how the company’s Erato brand for sweet potatoes is gaining traction in the hobby market and arable cropping.
For example, arable crop farmers in Zevenbergen and Aarle-Rixtel are expanding their sweet potato production in the Netherlands. Farmers grow between 35,000 and 40,000 plants per hectare, making this market segment very interesting.

More recently, Volmary’s sweet potato range has expanded to include varieties from the Ontario-based Vineland Research & Innovation Centre. Under the new partnership deal, Vineland grants Volmary the exclusive rights to distribute their varieties in Europe using the Erato Vineland brand name.

Erato Vineland sweet potatoes are bred for commercial production in cooler countries. They are relatively early, good-yielding, stable and relatively burst-resistant.

Volmary’s Erato sweet potatoes are all the rage.

The news in potatoes for the hobby market is the arrival of Phytophthora-resistant potatoes, which is the outcome of Dutch breeding work.

This year’s Volmary display was also used to launch six different Naturbiente (Biene is the German word for bees) wildflower seed mixes.

Young plants are grown in 128-hole trays for hassle-free and quick pre-cultivation of planting stock or containers.

Finally, on the corporate level, Volmary announced the imminent opening of a cuttings farm in Pegões, Portugal, to grow starting material for herbs and perennials. The Portuguese branch is the company’s third cuttings farm, following those in Kenya and Türkiye.

Volmary is a third-generation, family-run business celebrating its centennial next year. The company’s owner is Hubertus Volmary. His grandfather, Franz Volmary, co-founded the company together with Bruno Nebelung. The latter borrowed his name until the Volmarys and the Nebelungs parted ways in 2010.

Hubertus Volmary founded Volmary GmbH then and moved to the Kaldenhoferweg in Münster, which continues to serve as the company’s headquarters today.

Browsing through the company’s assortment is also a trip down memory lane. Pelargonium x species ‘Moskitoschocker’, the citronella-scented pelargonium, and the Sunny Susy Thunbergias evoke a bygone era when Jungpflanzen Grünewald in Selm still existed.

When the latter ceased operations, a few Grünewald varieties found a new home at Volmary.

Selecta One

Henk Dresselhuys, global product licensing manager at Selecta One, says FlowerTrials is always a highlight of the early summer season, with many new varieties and brands kicking off their activity for the 2024/2025 season. He heard that overall visitor numbers were slightly down from last year. Still, for the Selecta One show, the interest was stable, with attendance peaking on the opening day and Wednesday and fewer crowds on Thursday during the day. Yet, at night, it peaked as the company hosted this year’s FleuroStar awards ceremony.

Henk Dresselhuys is a global product licensing manager at Selecta One.

Discussing the winning variety, Dresselhuys commends Florensis for their success with Dahlia Dalina Maxi Starburst Pink, the official winner of this year’s FleuroStar. Interestingly, a parallel poll conducted by Michael Perry, aka Mr Plant Geek, among 140 respondents saw Selecta One’s Calibrachoa Uno Bakari and Dahlia Dalina Maxi Starburst Pink securing the first and third positions, respectively.

Generally, there’s a feeling that this year’s FlowerTrials was attended by fewer green professionals from South America, India, and Pakistan, while Japan, China, the USA, and Canada were on the rise.

Calibrachoa MiniFamous Uno Bakari was in the prime position on the stand of Selecta One, the German plant breeder, propagator and marketeer of bedding plants, patio/balcony plants, perennials, cut flowers, and vegetable starter plants.

The plant has unique features, including speckles and petals in hues of tangerine and golden yellow, and is edged in red. Like the famous Pink Kisses pot carnation, Uno Bakari is a branded standalone variety, with its patterned blooms being a standout feature at retail.

The Ocarina family comes in Yellow, Orange, and Dark Bronze and is ideal for autumn mixes.

In Calibrachoa, Selecta One distinguishes three primary series. At the growers’ level, Uno, the median compact series for cultivation in 10-12cm pots, is arguably the best known as it is hassle-free in production, early flowering, uncomplicated in developing its root system, and, above all, good-looking thanks to the rainbow of Uno colours available. Uno calibrachoas come with single and double flowers. Cultivation-wise, FleuroStar nominee Uno Bakari is a vigorous, easy-to-grow member of the Uno family.

Launched in 2022, the Calibrachoa Oro series encompasses a range of small-flowered calibrachoas ideal for growing in 9-10cm pots. They are naturally compact, require no or little PGRs, and are welcome companion plants in pots, containers, and window boxes. The fully double flowers add to Oro’s finishing touch.

Calibrachoa Neo represents Selecta’s most vigorous series. Its mounding and cascading habit suits the filler role in big patio pots, hanging baskets, and tall containers.

Niche-type calibrachoas are present in the Rave series, featuring large blooms, a well-branched stature, and star patterns in seven colours.

This year’s newcomer to Rave is Magenta Island.

Fancy Francy is also a standalone representing a less mainstream calibrachoa with good mildew tolerance and a genetically compact habit requiring fewer PGRs. The pink and white colours become more or less pronounced depending on how cool or hot the season is.

The Power Sisters is officially not a calibrachoa as it is the result of a crossing between petunia and calibrachoa, aka petchoa. The latter is the brainchild of Japan’s seed company Sakata. Petchoas such as the Power Sisters series are more tolerant of cold, heat, and rain, plus they don’t have sticky leaves, a characteristic gardeners appreciate when removing spent flowers.

All Selecta’s calibrachoas are energy-efficient because they can be grown at lower temperatures, between 10 and 12 degrees. New varieties that appear to have a lower cold tolerance during the breeding process are automatically disqualified.

On their FlowerTrials stand, Selecta One’s range of garden mums for the outdoors featured prominently, with Maila Purple, Hourra Gold, Flora, and Eny being the newcomers.

In its search for weatherproof varieties, Selecta One has the extra benefit of having a research centre in Stuttgart and Latina (near Rome) where plants are tested on cold and heat/drought tolerance.

The company also stresses that it has set the bar extremely high regarding downy mildew resistance. It exclusively sells its genetics to Ball North America, and the USA is a country where many hot and humid climate regions have nearly zero tolerance for mildew.

Selecta One anticipates opportunities for higher volumes of pot carnations in 10—and 12-cm pots in the American market now that the country’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) has allowed the importation of previously banned carnation cuttings from Kenya (where Selecta One runs one of its cuttings farm).

Until the ban was lifted in 2022, pot carnation growing in the USA was mostly considered the job of a perennial grower focusing on larger 15-17cm pots selling for seven to eight dollars in the mass retail market. Back then, there was hardly any business model for smaller pots, as the former quarantine rules made carnation cuttings too expensive. American bedding plant growers can now count on the availability of premium Kenyan harvests with more attractive pricing on carnation cuttings.

Pot carnation in small pots sold as a houseplant, bedding or patio plant is a prime example of a product that can help retail stores achieve sales goals and grow over time. The mainstream bedding plants provide beauty and great retail appeal but are also notoriously known for a floral shrink between 20-30 per cent. Pot carnations, however, boast an exceptionally good shelf life; if one weekend they remain unsold the weekend after, they are still in good shape provided, of course, they are adequately taken care of.

In pot carnations, Lucky Lips was the name most in the spotlight at Selecta One’s presentation now that the company’s flagship and stand-alone variety, Pink Kisses, is increasingly a victim of its own success. Too often, Selecta One sees poor-quality Pink Kisses on the marketplace. These are grown nearly as fast as lightning with low inputs simply because margin-grabbing supermarkets are not willing to pay an additional price for what is a branded product.

To reclaim some of the power it lost in Pink Kisses, the German breeder has launched Lucky Lips, a series of 10.5 cm pot carnations in five colours. This year, the production is exclusively in the trusted hands of the Netherlands’ major pot carnation grower, Ijzelenberg, who has already brought more than one million pots with Lucky Lips cultivars to the market.

The reasoning behind exclusivity is simple: specialist growers will produce premium quality plants, which ultimately will lead to better prices for the grower, happier customers, and, of course, more income from royalties for the breeder. Money, Selecta One is keen to stress that will be used to put even more marketing muscle behind the product.

Uno Bakari product display.

On their FlowerTrials stand, Selecta One’s range of garden mums for the outdoors was prominently featured, with Maila Purple, Hourra Gold, Flora, and Eny being the newcomers. Selecta One garden mum varieties are modern and do not require pinching in natural-season autumn crops. Pinching is advisable when producing small pots in a black cloth culture, but many growers produce garden mums under black cloth without pinching. The standard pot size is 19 cm, with one cutting placed into the pot.

If the idea of a garden mum nursery conjures up images of sun-kissed Belgian and French fields, the greenhouse structures in the Netherlands (with 90 per cent of crops being grown under protection) might be a disappointment. However, inside, using advanced techniques, Dutch growers can produce more pot mums per square metre than a field in Belgium and France, where 80-90 per cent of plants are grown in the open.

Field-grown products may well result in sturdier stems and perhaps bolder colours. On the other hand, greenhouse-grown crops are less prone to leaf spot and botrytis, mainly when nights are wet and cold.

Dutch greenhouse production of garden mums is tightly scheduled, with pots planted in week 20 and finished in weeks 36 and 37. Large-scale growers in the Netherlands rarely harvest later, as room has to be made for follow-up crops such as poinsettia.

In Chrydance, the company’s range of standard pot chrysanthemums for cultivation in 9-12-14 cm pots, Selecta One presented updated versions of Zumba Gold Fire, Pink&White, and Red&Gold with even more stable colours and pronouncedly striped petals. According to the company’s product management, the new large-flowered anemone series in three bi-colours (purple, pink, and yellow-red) is promising.

In potted disbuds, ranged under the Uniflora brand, Selecta offers the well-known Kena series in five colours.
Ksenia in White, Pink and Yellow stand out with thread-like florets.

The Ocarina family comes in Yellow, Orange, and Dark Bronze and is ideal for autumn mixes. The most common practice in potted disbuds is three cuttings per 12 cm pot or five cuttings in a 15cm pot or larger planters.

HilverdaFlorist

In 2001, breeders at the then-called Florist De Kwakel company initiated a programme aimed at creating the first-ever hardy and garden-worthy gerbera. After years of extensive trialling, the first Garvineas were launched in 2009 and in that same year received the Horti Fair Innovation Award. Fast forward to 2024, the Garvinea is reintroduced with a fresh, distinguished look through HilverdaFlorist. The Garvinea has undoubtedly come a long way.

The Garvinea Sweet series includes large blooms that are available in a rainbow of colours.

By now, it has cleverly dropped its ‘hardy and perennial’ bylines, as the differences between a country’s hardiness zones are always blurred. Plus, the term hardy is defined differently by different people. For some, it means being tolerant to light frost; for others, it means being able to withstand deep freeze. It all depends on where people live and garden.

In its newest catalogue, HilverdaFlorist touts Garvinea as the one and only true garden Gerbera on the market. It is relatively weatherproof, pest—and disease-resistant, and, above all, exceptionally good-looking.

Garvinea is literally a cool crop as it can be grown at relatively low temperatures, requiring little to no PGRs. Garvinea is multiplied through tissue culture to ensure the cleanest stock availability and offered through young plant suppliers in Europe and rooting stations in the USA.

The key to successful Garvinea production is monitoring drainage, as overwatering can lead to the development of root rot diseases.

Conversely, keeping plants too thirsty can provoke root issues such as Pythium. The recommended pH is between 5.5 and 6.0, and an EC of 1.0 to 1.5 is recommended, which are values that will ensure proper uptake of microelements. Plants risk starting to grow chlorotic if the pH is too high, resulting in leaf yellowing.

Pinching is not required, but removing spent flowers during growth is important to avoid bacterial threats to the leaves.

Spicing up the new Garvinea Sweet portfolio is Sweet Chili, featuring truly red blooms with a black centre.

Today, the more than 25 cultivars are categorised into three series: Cheeky (including cheeky little blooms almost reminiscent of a freely flowering field flower and the most floriferous of all Garvinea types), Majestic (double-flowered and long-lasting blooms), and Sweet (large blooms available in a rainbow of colours).

The new Sweet Chili, featuring truly red blooms with a black centre, is spicing up the Garvinea Sweet portfolio.

HilverdaFlorist was also showing its standalone and standout Picture Perfect, a new type of pot carnation that is easy to cultivate in 9 or 10.5cm pots with no pinching needed. When grown in a 12 cm pot, pinch once to obtain a well-branched, full plant.

It is safe to say that any pot carnation professional will start comparing Picture Perfect with Selecta One’s flagship pot carnation, Pink Kisses.

In that respect, it is claimed that Picture Perfect stands out for its non-fading bi-coloured flowers that are rich pink with a central, burgundy red marking on each petal. Raw or ripe, Picture Perfect retains its colour on the retail shelf and, as such, will continue to be drawn at retail, contrary to competing varieties that tend to pale. It is claimed that Picture Perfect is also earlier in flowering, allowing growers to target Valentine’s Day sales more easily.

HilverdaFlorist was also showing its standalone and standout Picture Perfect, a new type of pot carnation

HilverdaFlorist had more news from the pot carnation stage. It hailed Romee as the first pure white garden perennial Dianthus within the Beauties series.

Beauties varieties grow fast and profusely and feature brightly coloured blooms on sturdy stems. Newcomer Romee has a compact, slightly mounding growth habit and will get a slight blush in summer.

This article was first published in the July-August 2024 issue of FloraCulture International.