And with this trend in sight, German breeder and propagator Brandkamp decided to start breeding fuchsia varieties with larger flowers and they introduced the first so called Jollies La Grande breeding line in 2014 and over the last years, they expanded the assortment. "The big flowers, growing bushy and continual flowering habits of this quite new variety are already highly demanded in increasingly more countries", says Jürgen von den Driesch, Sales Manager at Brandkamp.
Large interest
The European interest for the large flowered fuchsias is surprisingly large. "Customers from Southern Europe love plants with large flowers and with the development of this La Grande range we are now able to meet this demand. Also in the UK, the demand is high. Our existing Jollies range is already very popular in the UK and the new La Grande line is adapting very quickly over there too. Remarkably, we are also recognizing an increasing demand for the large flowered fuchsias in the Netherlands and Germany. This is actually something we didn't expect," says von den Driesch.
Blooms all summer
Brandkamp has its own breeding program for fuchsias. One of their major requirements regarding breeding is the need for the fuchsia to bloom all summer long. "We were determined to let this variety bloom all summer long, because for the majority of the old fuchsia varieties this is not the case," says von den Driesch. Besides that, due to the high popularity in Southern Europe, high sun tolerance for the La Grande range is essential. Also a lot of attention is paid to the creation of busy plants without berries. Furthermore, Brandkamp is constantly adding new colors to the entire range of fuchsias. In the past, the red-blue and red-white varieties have been very popular. Now we see more diversification in the market, so the demand for more colors is increasing," he says.
For more information
Brandkamp
Jurgen von den Driesch
Email: v.d.driesch@brandkamp.de
www.brandkamp.de