Chris Andersen in the greenhouse.
Customer preferences
By
taking over the company and establishing DanRoses, Højgård Nursery is entering a new market and consequently has to deal with different customers and customer preferences. "Højgård Nursery is specialized in growing greens in the open field and supplies bare root roses to potted rose growers throughout Europe, but primarily to Scandinavia. Now, we are also supply ourselves with bare root roses. Cultivating potted roses in a greenhouse is something we never did before, but fortunately the greenhouse has all the necessary equipment to successfully produce potted roses," says Andersen. So, besides cultivating a new product they also have to deal with different customers and preferences. "We have to learn the values of these new customers and we have to adapt to their values. For this reason, but also because we are just starting up and have to take into account the financial part of the job, we decided to start producing the roses after receiving the inquiries. Of course we always produce something extra, but we mainly stick to the orders we receive. Then, we are sure that our entire production will be sold," he says. 
The greenhouse of DanRoses.
Start production
At the moment, the 14,000 m2 greenhouse of DanRoses is empty, but they are preparing for their second potted roses season. They will start forcing the first roses in a couple of weeks as Mother's Day is one of the most important days for potted rose growers. "Last year we successfully ran our first season and produced 100,000 potted roses of which 70 percent was dedicated for Mother's Day," he says. In a couple of weeks, DanRoses will start their second season. "The sales will start in week 14 and the production of the roses will take like 7 weeks, so in a couple of weeks the production will start. We produce the roses from budded rootstocks. We decided for this procedure as the production time will be shorter, more or less 3 weeks shorter compared to growing potted roses from cuttings," says Andersen.
On the left: Corinna Flower Circus and on the right: Mandarina Kordana.
Varieties
DanRoses produces different potted rose varieties, but the two main varieties we grow are bred by the German breeder Kordes; Flower Circus and the Kordana in 17cm and 19cm pot sizes. "We have chosen these varieties as they are compact, have big branches and a lot of flowers on the plant. Usually, potted roses have like 5-7 flowers on the plant, but ours have around 15-20 flowers. Furthermore, they are strong and healthy, flowering all summer and they do not have to be cut down in order to flower again."
For more information
Højgård Planteskole/Nursery
Chris Andersen
Email: [email protected]
www.hoejgaardplant.dk
