Zena Roses Ltd-Asai farm is located in Eldoret, Kenya at an altitude of 2242M, with a total of 22 ha, covered with both standard and spray roses. The farm supplies 100% direct markets, in Russia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and some parts of Europe. From United Selections’ early client involvement program, Zena Roses-Asai farm did a commercial trial of Speechless; a bi-pink, intermediate rose; to establish if it could be a good fit for their respective markets. After vigorous market testing with their direct clients, Speechless gained a lot of traction, leading to a commercial planting. A month ago, the farm officially started supplying Speechless to its direct clients and they are experiencing a skyrocketing demand for this variety.
"Speechless has a uniform head size of 5.5 cm and a stem length of 50-60 cm."
What makes Speechless a unique pink?
In regard to growing, Speechless is an incredible rose to grow and manage, because of less issues and struggle with pests and diseases. The rose has a significant number of shoots and this is why it is a highly productive variety, explains Japhet. “We are getting a minimum of 200 stems per square meter. From our growing, we have witnessed a length uniformity of 60 cm from 90% of all stems harvested within the farm” mentioned Japhet, Farm manager Zena Asai Farm. "Speechless is with no doubt an interesting pink variety to grow based on the growing characteristics elaborated above."
Market and future plans
It has been more than a month since Speechless was introduced in the market and Zena Roses Ltd-Asai indicated that the demand for this rose has tremendously increased. “It's unique opening with a baby pink ring on the outside makes it an interesting rose to add some color to any floral arrangement,” says Japhet.
He went ahead to mention that Speechless has an incredible pack rate because of its Budsize uniformity, its hardy petals allow the variety to travel well, arriving at the consumer in good shape and quality.
To fully satisfy the rapidly growing demand from its markets, Zena-Asai is currently expanding. United Selections believes that continuous collaboration with the growers is key to sustainably develop a variety and this is why speechless just like all the other varieties in their portfolio has taken the same route. "Speechless’s journey has just begun and we hope to see more of this variety in different markets around the world.
For more information:
Zena Roses Ltd
Benard Muthuri, Sales Manager
Email: benard.muthuri@zenaroses.com
www.zenaroses.com
United Selections
Email: marketing@united-selections.com