New Zealand rose breeder Rob Somerfield is to speak in Dunedin next week. Gillian Vine reports.
Speaking at the Otago Rose Society's meeting next Wednesday is a first for rose breeder Rob Somerfield, so the society is expecting a strong turnout to hear the Tauranga-based rosarian.
When he saw a tree with Delicious and Golden Delicious growing on it, Mr Somerfield was 8 or 9 and "totally mesmerised". He can still visualise that tree, which immediately had him hooked on the concept of grafting.
That was, he said, about 50 years ago and coincided with his falling in love with a highly perfumed rose growing by his grandfather's cowshed.
He put the two passions together and began breeding roses in 1983.
At that time, he felt roses were falling in popularity because they were seen as being "so much work", requiring regular spraying to grow adequately, as they lacked the vigour to perform unaided.
"I decided 30-odd years ago that health was the most important [attribute]," he said.
Click here to read the complete article at Otago Daily Times.
Announcements
Job Offers
- Sales Representative Southeastern US
- Bedding and Perennials Sales Manager Europe
- Horticultural Technician
- Agronomist
- Head Grower Strawberries, Norway
- Tissue Culture Laboratory Scientist
- Manager Operations & Logistics
- Vegetable Advisor (Permanent)
- Horticultural Commercial Director
- Senior Operations Manager Nursery
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 - yesterday
- Tagawa Greenhouse rooting cuttings better and faster
- "High demand for our orchids and we see a shift from flowers to flowering plants"
- “Portugal is a small country, but it's the 8th top producer of ornamentals in Europe"
- New dates for World Floral Expo 2023
- NL: Sustainable hydrangea greenhouse opens its doors
Top 5 - last week
Top 5 - last month
- "It extends the shelf life of roses by 50-100%"
- "Entering Europe is a natural next step in our growth"
- Cut flower ocean shipments continue to rise
- “In over 35 years of operations, we’ve seen a lot change in the foliage market”
- Denmark: "Growers see this crisis as an opportunity to improve and be more innovative"
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2018-09-28 NL: New products and plant trials at Cyclamen Open Days
- 2018-09-27 Early sales opportunities
- 2018-09-26 Australia: Best practice scheme ‘BioSecure HACCP’ gets tick of approval
- 2018-09-25 Anthura wins Plantum Sustainability Award 2018
- 2018-09-24 EU: CPVO participates in expansion of UPOV PRISMA PBR application tool
- 2018-09-21 PanAmerican Seed welcomes Luther McLaughlin
- 2018-09-20 Generating plants with improved water use efficiency
- 2018-09-20 Prepared for new season with two new planting robots
- 2018-09-19 "Uniform wetting and rewetting of the plugs"
- 2018-09-18 Florist Holland receives 2 Novelty awards for Standard Gerberas Glossy and Jetset
- 2018-09-17 India: Florance Flora releases Young Plants Catalogue 2019 - 2020
- 2018-09-14 Selecta One releases new Perennials catalogue 2019
- 2018-09-13 Proven Winners releases new recipe guide for professional growers
- 2018-09-12 US (CA): Sakata Seed America completes Woodland Innovation Center
- 2018-09-11 “Sport in the premier division”
- 2018-09-10 NZ: Rose breeder Rob Somerfield to speak at Otago Rose Society's meeting
- 2018-09-07 US: Skagit Horticulture launches new tissue culture lab
- 2018-09-06 Russia: Baltica celebrates birthday at FlowersExpo'2018
- 2018-09-06 J. Berry claims two major awards with Texas A&M AgriLife hibiscus hybrids
- 2018-09-05 NL: Lifting hygiene to the next level
