"The pot rose is not just a pot plant but a rose", says Rosa Eskelund of Roses Forever. Rose breeding is her passion and since the establishment of Roses Forever, they - next to creating a large flowered product - carry the philosophy easy to grow, short culture time, and grown close to the customer. Over the years, this Danish breeder sees these aspects becoming increasingly important to growers worldwide.
Infinity roses from Roses Forever ready to pack.
Easy to grow and short culture time
The pot roses of Roses Forever are grown across the world, in countries from Norway to Australia and from Canada to China. In all parts of the world, Rosa sees a high demand for easy to grow pot roses with a short culture time. For this reason, she invested a lot of effort in finding varieties that comply with these characteristics, particularly combining it with large flowers. "25 years ago I predicted that customers want larger flowers. However, at the time the varieties were not as easy to grow. Therefore, we decided to focus on this in our rose breeding."
Also, a short culture time has become more important as it enables growers to produce more products on the same area. "After trialing our roses in different parts of the world, we saw that the roses in the Forever and Infinity line have a culture time of only 10 weeks."
Roses Forever pot roses in a greenhouse in the Netherlands.
Closer to the customer
The third aspect in their philosophy "grown closer to the customer", is something Rosa has seen increasing over the last years. "Environmentally wise, it is better to grow roses close to the customer. On top of that, it also provides consumers with both fresh and sustainable plants for use both outdoors and indoors." And Rosa expects it to increase further. "After Brexit, more UK roses grown roses will remain on the UK market."
Propagation of Roses Forever roses in greenhouse in Denmark.
Mother's Day
The pot rose seems to be a good holiday gift and has proven to be a popular Mother's Day gift. "A pot-rose is not just a pot plant but a rose", says Rosa. "Do you remember the famous words of Gertrude Stein? ‘A rose is a rose is a rose?’ It means that no other plant or flower come close to a rose - a rose is a valued signal of love, quality and exclusivity, which no other plant can give."
On the left: Infinity roses as a Mother's Day gift. On the right: Infinity roses also work well as outdoor decoration.
IPM Essen
At the IPM Essen, that will take place at the end of this month Roses Forever will show their new roses and the well known Infinity bestsellers. They can be visited at stand 1D34.
For more information
Roses Forever
Rosa Eskelund
+45 51 57 19 90
re@roses-forever.com
www.roses-forever.com