A Day at Plantas Continental Trial House in Timau
At the begining of July, we headed to the scenic countryside of Timau, an area on the chilly nothern slopes of Mount Kenya. This is where Plantas Continental’s trial house is located; housed within the confines of Uhuru Flowers Ltd at 2,600m altitude. At the trial house, Plantas Continental showcases both new and well established commercial rose varieties; including standard roses and garden roses.
Dümmen Orange, unveiling the ‘City’ range of roses
We recently visited the Dümmen Orange flower breeding facility located in Naivasha; for the first time since the unveiling of their new brand values, logo and merger of several well-known corporate brands.
Two main things stood out during our visit. The entire rose assortment from Terra Nigra is now available at Dümmen Orange. Terra Nigra was one among the various companies merged under the Dümmen Orange umbrella.
Dümmen Orange has also introduced a new line dubbed “City Range” which is an assortment comprising of rose varieties ideal for supermarket growers. These rose varieties are good producers and according to Dümmen Orange East Africa GM Peter Mwangi, the roses are a good choice for growers at 1,500 to 1,900 altitude and this was a good time for the growers to visit and sample. Peter shared with us some important insights on the City Range.
New Rose Sensual to be introduced soon at Dutch Auction
Sensual is a large rose variety with a white-pink bi colour. The rose has good production and a full flower. Recently, Sally Roberts and team from Olij Rozen East Africa visited rose grower Xpressions Flora Ltd in Nakuru where they were shown the first stems of this new variety by Jan Spek Roses. Sensual is set to be introduced soon through Amor at the Dutch auction.
Jan Spek Rozen is represented by Olij Breeding in East Africa, South- Africa, Poland and at other European and East European countries.
Interplant Spray Roses
Product Group: Premium Spray Roses
Trade name: Royal Porcelina
Denomination: Interyorcrop
VBN Code: 115024
Stem length (cm): 60-80
Vaselife (days): 10-12
Flower production: medium
Colour: cream white
New introduction: yes
East African Packaging Industries Limited Names new Managing Director
East African Packaging Industries Limited, which supplies cartons and related packaging materials in East Africa, announced that Mr. Nick Barnes has been appointed to succeed Cor Roest as the Managing Director effective August this year.
Mr. Barnes joins the group with a wealth of experience in manufacturing packaging materials. He began his Kenyan career at Allpack Industries Limited as the General Manager then. He later moved to Dilpack Packaging Ltd as a director and still overseeing the day to day running of the company that manufactures flower sleeves.
EAPI is fortunate to have someone as experienced in Packaging as Mr. Barnes with an experienced leadership team in place to support his efforts. The flower sector will also be overjoyed to have Mr. Barnes back.