At the Annual General Meeting in Budapest Fleuroselect welcomed two new full members: Ameriseed breeds and Xiamen Ican Seed.
The Thai-based Ameriseed breeds, produces and distributes a wide range of Marigolds together with a selection of other varieties. Most are bred or selected in South-East Asia and tested on heat, humidity and disease resistance.
The Chinese Xiamen Ican Seed produces and distributes seed packets, plugs, young plants and seedlings to Chinese growers and retailers. The company works closely with Benary, PanAmerican/Kieft Seed, Sakata, Takii, Hem Genetics, Floranova and Thompson & Morgan.
The Swiss media agency Media Concept Schweiz was granted Associate Membership, bringing back this category of membership to the organisation.
For 48th time
Fleuroselect’s 48th Annual Member Convention took place from 4 to 6 July. No less than 115 delegates participated in this year’s programme. NAIK, the Hungarian National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre, played host to the 2017 event via its Fruitculture Institute, which is responsible for its ornamental breeding programmes.
Dr. Mária Szábo, currently in charge of the ornamental breeding programme at the Institute planted out the current Fleuroselect trial of new annual varieties on two fields at different elevations in order to test different levels of UV-intensity and the effects of varying drought tolerance.
Budapest’s impressive flower beds
On the program was also a sight-seeing tour to admire Budapest’s impressive flower beds. The tour ended with a Garden Party on Margaret Island where the inner flower circle bed surrounding the main field was planted with Fleuroselect winners. Veronika Papai, in charge of the flower beds’ planting: „These beds have been designed using the ‘Millefleur’ technique. A pattern of diagonal lines is filled up with patches of low varieties in the front and higher plants in the back, creating the perfect balance between structure and nature.”
