Oct 27, 2023
Dümmen Orange highlights new varieties at IFPA

Dümmen Orange showcased a redesigned booth and highlighted several new varieties at the 2023 Global Produce & Floral Show (IFPA) that took place Oct. 19-21 in California. IFPA attracted over 60 countries and approximately 20,000 delegates, which took place Oct. 19-21 in Anaheim, California.

Dümmen Orange attended IFPA’s The Global Produce & Floral Summit for a variety of reasons.

“We have such a wide variety of different plants that we breed in potted floral crops like anthuriums, orchids, poinsettias, pot mums, kalanchoes, African violets, and houseplants,” Marta Maria Garcia, head of marketing and retail for Dümmen Orange, North America, said. “It’s a massive product offering that sometimes gets overlooked because we don’t have a show like this (IFPA) to showcase, so this is like the perfect scenario. Plus, we also get to showcase our wonderful cut flowers, which is a quarter of our business globally.”

CUT FLOWERS

Garcia also shared that the cut flower category is one of growth for Dümmen Orange in Europe and Latin America.

Dummen Orange Cut Flowers

“We have a great portfolio with innovations coming out of each of the different crops like roses, chrysanthemums, callas and carnations. Even innovations such as Intrinsa, we have the cut mums that we do 80% of that crop is white rust resistant. So, it already has Intrinsa inside,” Garcia said. “And the roses are coming up with agrobacterium resistance as well. We’re already in selections of those varieties. Aside from breeding beautiful colors, flower forms are also great solutions for sustainability purposes. This means that growers can utilize less chemicals where they’re growing these flowers — let it be California or South America or anywhere in Europe.”

AFRICAN VIOLETS

“A lot of people don’t know that we are the only breeder in the world right now that does any breeding behind African violets,” said Garcia. “We have a big responsibility to improve this crop that is doing so well. It’s kind of a retro crop, right? It’s making its way back.” African violets from Dümmen Orange

Garcia detailed that Dümmen Orange will launch six new introductions in the next selling season that will be focused on “not only beautiful color flowers but also bi-colors.”

“They’re exciting innovations. The bi-colors, double blooms or ruffled flower petals have really caught everyone’s attention. We did it on purpose because we know it’s a category that’s making a comeback,” Garcia said.

Garcia said she was able to talk to one of the retailers that has been trying to grow this category more, “but the grower base that grows these is very limited. We’re working hard at expanding that, so they can have a 12-month program of these (African violets) in their stores.”