Kenya: Red Lands Roses find new mutants of their best-seller Julieta

Finding a mutant of one of your best-sellers. It is something that excites many growers, also at Red Lands Roses. At this Kenyan rose farm, specialized in spray rose cultivation, they found the first mutant of their best-seller Julieta 2 years ago and recently they found two others, which they are trialing at the moment. "If the trials are successful, we will have four colors of Julieta", says Rita Wanjiku.

Barbara Natembeya and Rita Wanjiku at the IFTEX 2019 were wearing (and handing out) necklaces, something they do at every fair, but this time with red, white and black beads. It symbolizes Red Lands support for the fight against Female Genital Mutilation. "Red stands for the blood that has been shed, white for peace and black for the African skin color”.

Julieta is a coral colored garden spray rose variety bred by French rose breeder George Delbard. Red Lands Roses started to grow this variety 4 years ago and quickly saw an increase in demand. "It fits any occasion, like weddings, Mother's Day and so on." Now, it even belongs to their best-sellers.

Julieta at the booth of Red Lands Roses.

And about 2 years ago, they found a mutant in their crop; a cerise colored variety. They took it out, started to trial it and after successful trials, they named it Julieta Cerise. "We were very happy with this new addition and now, it is, just like the mother, always sold out."

Arnaud Delbard and Arnoud Bolten at the IFTEX behind Julieta (on the left) and Julieta Cerise (on the right) from Red Lands Roses.

Lately, the crop again surprised them with two new mutants; a yellow (Limoncella) and cream (Cream) color. "We are now trialing them and we have good hopes for good results."

Together, these varieties are part of their large assortment which consists of over 130 varieties. These roses are grown on a total acreage of 28 ha in Ruiru, 35km Northeast of Nairobi, Kenya.