Have you ever heard about the Freedom story? If not, this perfectly indicates the importance of a good name. Freedom is a rose variety of German rose breeder Rosen Tantau and is currently one of their best red rose varieties. Rosen Tantau’s Sebastian Donoso tells us the story.
Sebastian Donoso at the Expo Flor Ecuador.
Renaming
After trialing this red rose variety for several years, Rosen Tantau put it on the market under the name Bloody Mary. “It was a very good variety, it grow well, good head size, stem lengths and vase life”, says Donoso. All was very good, but the US and EU buyers did not purchase the variety. But why? “At first, we did not have a clue. It is such a good variety and growers liked. It. So, the only thing we could do was changing the name.” And they did, they renamed it to Freedom. Afterwards, the sales increased drastically. “It seemed that the US and EU buyers had negative connotations with the name.” Currently it is their best grown variety in Colombia and Ecuador – the only countries in which this variety is grow.
Freedom (Click here for more information on the variety characteristics)
Love at first sight
For Rosen Tantau, the focus is on production for the grower’s end and vase life at the final consumers end. “We work together with UC Davis in California where we check the opening, traveling, vase life, botrytis and reaction to ethylene of the flowers.”
At the Expo Flor Ecuador, the Freedom was presented at their booth, along with other varieties. The selection is a tough process. Sebastian Donoso tells us that out of the 100,000 crosses that are made per year in Germany, 500 crosses are sent to Ecuador to test. “After four years, we maybe have three varieties left. The best varieties are the ones with love at first sight, like freedom”, he says.
For more information
Rosen Tantau
Sebastian Donoso
Email: sdonoso@rosentantau.com.ec
www.rosentantau.com