Anders Eskelund of Rosa Aps holding the Infinity roses in the greenhouses.
After having very busy weeks in advance of Valentine's day - with saying no to many customers because the greenhouse was 100% filled and shipping out 320,000 pieces 6 cm pots of red Forever Roses mainly to Germany - Rosa Aps did have just little time to catch their breath as their Women's Day and UK Mother's Day roses are being shipped out this week and next week.
On the left: Tiny red Forever rose in 6 cm pots. On the right: The light pink Infinity rose ‘Princess of Infinity’ in the greenhouse in Denmark.
Women's Day is celebrated on a fixed date, March 8, but the date of English Mother's Day depends on the date of Easter; it falls three weeks before Easter. And this year, Easter falls early, which means UK Mother's Day too, on March 11 this year.
As UK Mother's Day is succeeding Women's Day quickly, another busy period has come for the pot rose growers. "For Women's Day, we ship 210,000 pieces 6cm red Forever Roses to Eastern Europe and Germany", says Eskelund. The pot roses requirements for UK Mother's Day are, however, different. "The UK asks for light pink and white Infinity roses in 10.5 cm pots and we will ship 60,000 to this country."
Big flowered ‘Infinity’ rose and the tiny red Roses Forever rose. Both have in pots 9-10 weeks of production time in effective high tech greenhouses. Per m2 120 pieces of the 6 cm Forever rose can be grown and 30 pieces of the Infinity roses in 10.5 cm pots.
Often colors and sizes are quite set for holidays, but Eskelund sees the demands and popularity of the potted roses changing over time. "We see a change in what costumers like to offer in their shops. For Valentine's Day, for example, other colors than red are becoming more sought after and at the moment, white and light pastel pink are very popular in Germany, our biggest market. All in all, this makes the Infinity roses even more popular - also where red normally was the most sought after."
Overall, this Danish pot rose grower notices a trend towards the use of roses, both in decor and clothing fashion. However, as trends can change quickly, the demands for pot roses do too. How does Rosa Aps deal with these changing demands? "Fortunately we have a very flexible production setup, so we can switch from small to large pots continuously, and colors we can change quickly in relation to the trend."
Rosa Aps
Rosa Aps is a licensed grower of the pot Roses of Danish breeder Roses Forever and produces 5 million pot roses per year in pot sizes that range from 6 cm to 21 cm. Their main markets are Germany, East Europe, Sweden and Finland.
For more information
Roses Forever
Rosa Eskelund
Email: re@rosa.dk
www.roses-forever.com