Chrysanthemum season has begun in Sochi. The growers have shared that the flower is rather a demanding one and even southern climate is not enough for it. Yet the plant breeders managed to come up with new varieties.
“We have implemented the new varieties this year, we are monitoring them. They have good decorative qualities, quite big, about 25 centimeters in diameter,” shares the junior research associate of the Federal Subtropics Research Center at the Russian Academy of Science, Ms. Tatiana Gabujeva.
It’s magnum, the chrysanthemum with a bud weighing about a kilo. The rare flower bloomed in the greenhouse of the Subtropics Research Center at the Russian Academy of Science.
Spring and summer of the current year have been the most challenging. Because of the heat and the quarantine measures chrysanthemums required especially close care. Old roots needed to be removed, as because of them the buds grow smaller. And the research center’s task is to retain pure varieties.
“We shaded the glass in the greenhouse in order to decrease the lighting and we used the tent in the open field,” mentioned Ms. Tatiana Gabujeva.
Sochi greenhouse complex was launched in 1970s. They used to have luxurious citrus plantations, rare varieties of conifers, however, during perestroika the enterprise was on the edge of bankruptcy. They only retained flowers, which are being preserved by the scientists. They have developed dozens of new varieties, such as Symphony and Yuri Gagarin. The latter is the name, given to the flower by the guests from the Netherlands as to the first of flowers.
“The blooming season usually coincides with the rainy weather and the flowers easily lose shape. That is why we plant them in greenhouses, so almost all the year round apart from three months the acreage is occupied with the flowers,” noted the head of the department for agricultural and nursery methods of the research center, Mr. Vadim Miller.
A part of the plants are bought by the flower shop owners, the rest are used for the breeding purposes. The money earned with chrysanthemums is mainly used for expanding the collection. The flowers respond to all the care with gratitude. They are resistant to cold and are easily transportable. Chrysanthemums are also durable: they usually remain fresh up to three weeks after they have been cut.
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