"Europe: "Bring the hydrangeas to the attention of the general public"

Due to the decline in demand from Eastern European countries, there are increased quantities of Hydrangeas on the European market, which has given lower prices. Therefore, breeders, propagators and growers are trying to increase the popularity by promoting the hydrangea intensively through the Internet and on TV programmes in Europe. This is explained by Kees Eveleens of Horteve Breeding, a breeder and propagator of hydrangeas and president of the Hydrangea Promotion Commission of hydrangea growers in Holland and several suppliers of half grown material in Europe .

On the left, Kees Eveleens. On the right, Yves Albert.

Intensive promotion
In order to increase the popularity of the hydrangea, breeders, propagators and growers joined forces and started up a promotion campaign in the Netherlands and Germany. "We try to bring the hydrangeas to the attention of the general public." The promotional campaign is executed through the Internet and TV. They set up a website, www.hydrangeaworld.com, that inspires and informs people about the use and maintenance of hydrangeas. "It is an initiative of all Hydrangea suppliers of FloraHolland and Hydrangea breeders and propagators", says Eveleens.

The website: www.hydrangeaworld.com

Regarding the houseplants, they mainly focus on the Dutch market and for the Garden plants, the German market is their target group. Besides using the website, the hydrangeas are heavily promoted on Facebook and Twitter. In the Netherlands, also television promotion is used; the products are recommended on Dutch home decoration programmes. In the future, a part of these activities will be executed in France and the UK.

Horteve breeding
"Our hydrangeas are bred in the Netherlands and propagated in France. We supply starting material and half-ready plants. Growers would need 8-12 weeks to complete the growing process of half-ready plants to finished plants." Constantly, many different hydrangea varieties are added to the current assortment, these are new and enhanced existing varieties. "At the moment, we see a growing share of the specialty hydrangeas" says Eveleens. These specialty plants consist of double petal flowers with a longer shelf life. The varieties that have these characteristics are called the Magical® assortment at Horteve breeding. These plants are higher in price but are also higher in production costs.

The new varieties of Horteve Breeding will be on display at the FlowerTrails 2015 in the Netherlands at Royal Van Zanten. Rijshornstraat 205, 1435 HH Rijsenhout.

For more information

Horteve Breeding
Email: kees.eveleens@hortensia.eu
www.hortensia.eu