Owner Bloomingdale Roses visits Netherlands to introduce new rose

On Wednesday morning, January 18, about 150 to 200 people found their way to the presentation area of Hoven & De Mooij in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. Bunty Shah, the man behind the Kenyan nursery Bloomingdale Roses (currently 38 hectares), was present at a Meet & Greet and to introduce his newest rose, the two-tone, red and yellow rose KNOX.

"We’re good at launching new products," according to Peter Vrouwe of Portal Flora, the pre-sales department of Hoven & De Mooij. "We regularly introduce new varieties even before they appear on the clock. When a grower plants a new breed we offer the possibility to put it in our showroom and to begin preparing for its introduction with the aim of creating the right moment to go to the clock. Through our approach the product is already widely known to prospective buyers when it is introduced at the clock and we will have collaborated with the grower to maximize the quality and presentation of the product."

This was the same with Bunty Shah. "We introduced him three years ago at the clocks in Aalsmeer when he had just started a completely new nursery in Timau, Kenya. We held a similar Meet & Greet back then. So besides the weekly showroom presentation this is the second time that Bloomingdale Roses is presenting its entire range at our facilities."

Hoven & De Mooij often organizes similar Meet & Greets for both domestic and foreign growers. About 120 growers are associated to Hoven & De Mooij/PortalFlora, with half being Dutch and the rest from South America and Africa. The range of these growers consists largely of roses, but also lots of tulips and other summer (flowers).

The assembled audience consisted of buyers, breeders and fellow growers. "We have pretty much become the living room of the auction. That has naturally happened in the course of the last couple of years: what has eroded at the auction is regrown through us, so to speak. Nowadays it’s hard to find space; there are hardly any showrooms left and we offer just that. So many traders and breeders come take a look."

Bloomingdale Roses is a large (by African standards medium-sized) nursery with a range of 20 breeds that are grown on 38 hectares of greenhouse 'on the slopes of Mount Kenya’. The nursery lies on the equator at an altitude of 2450 meters. See this video for a closer look: