During the planting he planted 14 other 'brothers and sisters' too. Arjen and Ronald met each other in 2010 and Arjen told Ronald that he would not be working further with these selections because he was closing his nursery. Ronald decided to continue with the selections and to dig them out and re-plant at another nursery in Boskoop for observation. These were planted in a 50 litre container.
"We have a winner"
In the year of 2013 the plants were transported to Poland to Szkolka Wojciech Wróblewski, a business partner of Breederplants. In Poland the final selection programme was scheduled by Wojciech and Ronald. In June 2015 Wojciech called Ronald with the news: “Ronald we have a winner, it is number 14. Her flower is very nice and she is compact and has a flower on each branch.”
After the approval of Arjen (the breeder) they shipped a few plants to Van Son & Koot in Kaatsheuvel and to Seiont Nurseries in Wales for further production. By 2017 Van Son & Koot planted approx. 4500 plants into a 3 litre to produce an amazing plant within one year. In the meantime, Breederplants shipped plants all over the world for observation and to see how they performed.
Global trials for Polestar
These included North America by Concept Plants, to Japan by Plantnetworks and to Hungary by Jaroslaw Chabin. "During May 2018 we received all images from our trial places that the Polestar was in full flower and very compact. So not only does it show its benefits in Poland and Holland but also in Japan, North America, Wales and Hungary. In some regions, it was already changing colour to pink", Ronald says.
'Best Novelty Gold Medal'
8 years on, the plant was submitted for the Novelty awards at the new Garden Trials & Trade event in Boskoop last month. Van Son & Koot produced five perfect examples for the show. It won the 'Best Novelty' Gold Medal to complete this remarkable story.
The professional jury of the KVBC gave the following comments: “Polestar is a cross of Dharuma. Perfectly grown plants and well presented. Very rich flowering, it looks like it produces no over headed branches. Distinctive because of its compact growth, very early blooming, special flower shape and colour.”
For more information:
Breederplants
www.breederplants.nl