In the spotlights
The Latin name of the carnation is Dianthus and comes from the words Dios and Anthos, which means God and flower. Divine Flowers is therefore the name of the company where the beautiful Carnation 'Hypnosis' comes from. Anyone who believes in the boring image of the carnation has never taken a look in the greenhouse of this nursery. This company grows more than 80 types of carnations in all kinds of different colours. In addition, they often change their assortment so it is always surprising to see what hey have to offer..
Dianthus 'Hypnosis'
The most special Carnation was saved for the last part of our visit: the Dianthus 'Hypnosis'. For years it was only grown in Colombia but now for the first time it is also grown in the Netherlands. This flower is special because of its distinctive, elegant colour. You can find gray and bluish shades alternate with bright pink shades that seem to give light. You can not find this colour shade in other flowers but it combines perfectly with most of them! The Hypnosis seems to become a little rosier under the Dutch conditions.
Every year one section of greenhouse is used to grown all kinds of test products. From this test group, Divine selects only the best species to add to their assortment. At first the company doubted whether the Hypnosis variety would be a nice product to grow in the Netherlands as its cultivation was certainly not optimal. However, Divine gave the Hypnosis a chance and to their surprise it is now a beautiful crop with which they are very happy with.
Dutch Carnation
The carnation has a historical meaning in the Netherlands. Prince Bernhard was in the habit of wearing a white carnation during the years of the World War II so nowadays at special events related to the war white Carnation are still worn .
At Florapodium we thought it is time to highlight the Dutch Carnation and give it a place on our Podium. We visited Divine Flowers which is a modern company consisting of a partnership between Martin Zwinkels, Ed Toussaint and Chris Doelman. Arnoud, who is responsible for sales and, among other things, the assortment gave us a nice tour of the nursery and told everything about the cultivation.
The first think that initially stroke us during our visit was to see such a vast quantity of flowers in their 28000 m2 of nursery. Within this mass there are 80 different types of carnations grown, which makes this company the perfect carnation specialist!
The Carnation is a strong flower with a long vase life. At the FloraPodium we noticed that the Dutch Carnations often smell stronger than the imported Carnations and this is probably because the flowers are cut at a more mature stage than abroad. The flowers also seem to get a better colour intensity
The cultivation
Divine stands for quality and therefore serves the higher segment of the market. They grow the Carnations under the best conditions and look for new and special varieties with which a professional florist / specialist can make the distinction. Both spray and standard Carnations are grown in various colours and combinations. Growing all these different flowers is a challenging piece of truss that can only be done to perfection if someone keeps a close eye on it. Ed and Martin are therefore responsible for the cultivation of all these types of carnations.
Various rose growers are now struggling with a disease called Ralstonia. When this disease appears nothing can be saved and the growers are forced to destroy the whole production. We asked Arnoud if this disease is comparable to the Carnation disease called ‘Fusarium’. "No", says Arnoud, “It is a completely different crop and disease, so it’s a completely different story for the roses. You can not compare these crops with each other and the Fusarium disease is under control”
The company uses biological pesticides as much as possible to grow. For example, a predatory mite called Phytoseiulus is used to killed a spider looking bug called by Dutch growers “spint” while fungi is used to kill the Trips.
A closed water system is enriched with oxygen, by means of a small waterfall, and ensures that no water is wasted. This is better for the biological life in the water.
Watering the plants is quite a job for Ed. All different types of carnations are at a different stage in the greenhouse and each bed of Carnations needs different amounts of water. Ed’s experience allows him to know exactly how much water each one needs.
All carnations are treated with ZilverThioSulfaat (STS), a pre-treatment agent that counteracts aging by Ethylene. Carnations are very sensitive to ethylene. Ethylene is an aging hormone that is found in exhaust fumes and is released by ripening fruit. Due to the pre-treatment agent, the Carnations are no longer susceptible to Ethylene, which means that the vase life is up to 5 to 10 days longer.
Carnations grow naturally in a spray form including the well-known 'standard' Carnations. However, in the standard version the spray buds that emerge are cut off from the crop so that the main bud can grow bigger and stronger.
Florists worldwide know that Carnations in some periods of the year are more “delicate” as the stems can break easier or the heads can fall off. We asked Arnoud why this happens; “Two months after the shortest day of the year the carnations become more 'brittle'. This has everything to do with the light as carnations come from a light-poor period, making the stems less firm.
After the Carnations are cut, they are transported to a room where the Carnations are sorted by quality. Finally they are bunched by hand and placed in a machine where the sleeves an elastics are put on before they head out to countries all over the world.
FloraPodium, 04 July 2018
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