Growth

HilverdaFlorist specialises in the cultivation of a wide range of cut flowers, pot plants and garden plants. Among other things, the company breeds gerberas for Summit Gerbera, one of Van der Plas' Flourishing Partners. Anyone who steps into HilverdaFlorist's greenhouses immediately realizes how large-scale the breeding process is As far as the eye can see there are flowers in various stages of development. Colored sticks and labels make it clear which flowers belong together. Robin van der Meer, sales manager and product manager of cut gerberas at HilverdaFlorist, explains that breeding is a complex cultivation technique. "The breeding process consists of several steps and often takes several years. We place high demands on the quality of the new varieties we create and want to be sure that the plant meets these requirements."

"Choosing flowers to cross and pollination are only the first two steps of the breeding process," Robin says. " The 'seedlings' that we raise from the seeds of the fertilized flower, we assess for desired characteristics. If there are gerberas among them that we think are good enough, the next step is tissue culture. We then take small pieces off the bottom of the stem, which we grow up to mature plants with the same genetics as the mother plant."

"Once the tissue cultures have grown into mature plants, they move on to the testing phase. We then see how well the flower performs seasonally. In the process, we also work with growers who grow new varieties in their greenhouse on a trial basis. If both we and the grower are satisfied with a new variety, we add it to the assortment."

So what happens to the gerberas that don't make it? "Breeding is also throwing away," Robin says. "95% of the flowers don't make it. From the many seeds, often only a few flowers are good enough to take to the next step in the breeding process. Sometimes after crossing two varieties, we choose to further crossbreed the resulting variety until we are truly satisfied. We pay attention to how easy the new variety is to grow, the vase life of the plant and the shelf life of the flower. We also look at the technical characteristics of the plant: what colors does the flower have, how easy is it to pick the stem and what is the diameter of the flower?"

When Robin is asked which new gerbera variety is his favorite, he has to think for a moment. The product manager of cut gerberas has seen many new varieties come along in his nine years at HilverdaFlorist. In the end, he chooses the PowerBall. "What I like about this gerbera is that the whole picture is right; the pink and white blended petals, the long shelf life and how easily you pick it. What I personally like is that the PowerBall secretly looks a bit like a dahlia, but with a longer shelf life of up to 12 to 16 days. Ideal if you love dahlias and want to enjoy your flowers a little longer."