Introduction
For more than 35 years, Penning Breeding is involved with breeding activities
of freesia. Our main breeding objective is the development of improved freesia-varieties,
that will satisfy the commercial grower as well as the consumer. The
breeding program is divided in two subdivisions:
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improvement of existing types |
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development of new types |
Important traits in the breeding program are:
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year-round culture: suitability for culture under different climatological circumstances; |
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production/volume: production of good vigorous sideshoots beside a robust main stem of good quality; |
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keeping qualities: good vase-life and flower opening after transport simulation; |
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fragrance: sweet and pleasant; |
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environment: resistance to fusarium, insects and viruses. |
Penning Freesia has been a leading company in the search for new types and colours for the past decade. In 1995, the first purple-coloured freesia, named 'Purple Rain' was launched and became very popular among consumers, growers and trading companies.
The introduction of 'Striped Sun',double yellow with red stripes, in 1997 marked the beginning of the Striped-series, followed by ''Striped Pearl' and 'Striped Jewel' (both single white with blue stripes) and recently by 'Striped Star' (single dark yellow with dark red stripes).
In the past few years, the colours chestnut and cognac have been added to the assortment by introducing 'Lady Brunet' and 'Brandy'.
The rich gradation of colours in the freesia-assortment was enlarged again recently by the introduction of the soft pink double variety 'Honeymoon'. A year later followed by the double red "Red Beauty" and the orange "Sevilla". More surprising new colours are expected within a few years.
Procedure
Annually, a crossing programme is established and carried out.
After the first selection season has been completed, all selected seedlings are undergoing an intensive selection procedure during at least four more years, in which they will be tested on different kind of traits. The extensive breeding programme is delivering a constant flow of data, which are all processed and analysed by a computer programme. Eventually, a panel of breeders, sales managers and prominent growers is consulted in order to make final decisions about promising new clones, resulting in the annual introduction of 3-4 new varieties.
In the new greenhouse, which has been put into use in 2004, most of the freesia-assortment will be shown practically year-round.