Wharton Roses demonstrated at the HTA National Plant Show how garden roses from the Home Florist brand can also be used as cut roses.
At the Wharton Roses stand Pip Bensley gave continuous demonstrations for visitors of the trade fair near Coventry. Visitors at the HTA National Plant Show are always mainly owners, buyers and employees of garden centres in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Bensley was previously head buyer at Hillier Garden Centres and now focuses on cut flowers from your own garden. ’Cut your own’ is a British trend that received extra attention last year thanks to the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan: flowers from the garden of Kensington Palace were used for the wedding decorations.
From same German breeder as Flower Carpet
Wharton Roses cleverly responded to that trend by introducing Home Florist last year. The brand consists of roses from Noack, the German breeder from the globally successful Flower Carpet roses. ’Then you know that Home Florist roses are good too’, Paul Wharton explained.
Noack has selected the Home Florist roses for their fragrance, health, flowering of course and in addition the branches for firmness. ’They are strong for use after cutting and then you can enjoy them for at least one week at home’, Wharton said.
Four roses from the Timeless series fall under Home Florist: Cream, Charisma, Pink and Purple. Wharton and Noack are currently looking at other colors. ’We work very closely together, also in marketing. Home Florist is our design; Noack has approved everything.’
Bensley is not only well-known in the UK industry, but also among UK gardeners. She regularly attends BBC Radio to answer questions about garden plants and flowers, arranges and judges at the famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London. ’You can do so much with flowers from your garden’, she said at Wharton Roses. ’Certainly with roses, because they bloom throughout the summer. Other plants don’t do that.’
Photo by Arno Engels
