“They love the color, the texture, and especially the unique “bottle brush” type flowers. Everybody loves to touch its blooms”, says Jennifer Calhoun of Benary when talking about their breeding breakthrough Matilda. Presented for the first time at Proflora 2019, this new cut flower is being officially launched in North America as we speak. And according to Calhoun, exactly at the right time. “The cut flower industry is in search of real novelties.”
Looks
Matilda is part of the Ptilotus family and is, according to Benary, ‘Joey’s beautiful and sassy sister’. And the industry seems to agree. “When we pre-presented it at the Proflora trade show in Colombia in 2019, the feedback was extremely positive already. And still, growers, wholesalers, florists, designers, and so on are all very enthusiastic. Growers enjoy having a real novelty in their assortment and they can use it as a filler or feature item. All in all, Matilda seems to be a total match to the market trends. When people see all that they can do with it, they want to get it.” ”
Production
Matilda’s appearance is not the only characteristic that makes this cut flower unique, it is also the cultivation and post-harvest characteristics, explains Calhoun. “Besides its color, texture, and feather-like flowers, it has a very good yield per sq. ft. of production space, multiple rotations per year in warm climates, very good ‘shipability’ and an excellent (14+) vase life.” It reaches lengths of 70 cm. Currently, Matilda is being grown in Colombia and Ecuador and being exported to the US and Canada as of today.
Going global
After the pre-presentation at Proflora in 2019, they just debuted Matilda at the 2022 California Spring Trials event in Watsonville, CA, and plan to show Matilda at Floriexpo, the Miami Cut Flower Trade Show in the US in June, and at the same time continue a global launch at the Dutch FlowerTrials in June. As we speak, the first flowers are being shipped to North America, where Benary is working with wholesalers, retailers, and florists to familiarize themselves with this new variety. “Our approach is to collaborate with partners across the entire supply chain so that they can get to know the product and feel supported.”
Click here for more pictures of the Matilda display at CAST.
Expectations
According to Calhoun, expectations are high as demand is increasing already.
For more information:
Benary
www.benary.com