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Fleuroselect - how it works and
1997 winners From
BBC Gardener's World magazine Every year hundreds of new flower seed varieties
appear in catalogues and on the garden centre seed
racks. Of course, all the seed companies say their
own varieties are the best - but they would,
wouldn't they? So how do we know, before we buy
them, which varieties really are good? A little
guidance is helpful, and Fleuroselect provides that
help. Fleuroselect is on odd word, but it gives you
the general idea of what the organisation is about.
Fleuro - something to do with flowers... select -
making a choice. Fleuroselect is the organisation
which trials new flower seed varieties all over
European and gives awards to the best. Of course it's important to say straight away
that the main aim of Fleuroselect is not actually
to help the gardener choose which varieties to buy
but to encourage us to buy more. The membership of
the organisation is made up of flower seed breeders
worldwide and the seed companies which sell seed
both to gardeners and to commercial growers. And
they all want to sell more seed. Nevertheless the awards given after the testing
of potential new introductions are a good guide
both to innovation and garden performance. How it's
done... Flower seed breeders from the world over enter
their newest varieties before they even come on to
the market. These varieties are then grown in all
twenty seven trial grounds from Italy to Finland,
including those at Unwins Seeds, Thompson &
Morgan Seeds and three other sites in the UK. )
One, or sometimes two, existing similar varieties
are grown alongside for comparison. All the entries
are grown under code numbers with no clue given to
name or origin. Only the secretariat in Holland can
match the entry number with a raiser or variety
name. Each variety is judged during the whole of its
growing season and marked against a series of
carefully controlled criteria including uniformity,
freedom of flowering, length of flowering period,
habit of growth and tolerance of bad weather and of
pests and diseases. Performance in packs is also
assessed and, where relevant, productivity as a cut
flower. Innovation is also recognised - the extent to
which an entry is the result of a breeding
breakthrough, a genuine advance in the science and
art of plant breeding. And of course there are
marks for sheer beauty. The marks from the trial grounds all over Europe
are collated and varieties which gain 75% of the
maximum possible marks are awarded a Gold Medal.
Others which don't quite make Gold are awarded the
Quality Mark. More which are seen to be genuinely
new have their status as novelties recognised. But does it
work? Well at first it didn't. Set up in 1971, in the
early years Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were
available but the judging system somehow produced
no golds and few silvers. Lots of bronze medals
were awarded to varieties which performed well in
some areas of Europe but badly in others; the six
zinnias which gained awards were never successful
in Britain. Then in 1990 the system was improved and
confidence began to grow. But the truth is that in
Britain gardeners still pay little attention to the
little red symbol in the catalogues and on the seed
packets and even amongst members there are signs of
unrest. At this year's Fleuroselect convention in
California I detected undercurrents of discontent.
'It's all too political' was a comment I heard
quite a few times. Although the entries are
supposed to be anonymous, in practice most members
have a pretty good idea of who's entered what and
there's a suspicion that some varieties end up with
medals they don't deserve and some splendid
varieties are denied their just rewards. A recent example was the denial of a Gold Medal
to the British bred Nicotiana 'Domino Salmon Rose',
a prolific variety in a stunning new colour, and
the awarding of a Gold Medal to Nicotiana 'Havana
Appleblossom', an interesting development but a
poor thing by comparison. From the gardeners point of view the problem is
that companies do not enter all their new
introductions so that some of the best new
varieties are denied even the chance of a Gold
Medal. This devalues the medals given to those
which do enter. Plant breeders are sometimes cautious about
entering their varieties in Fleuroselect trials
because their competitors can see and assess them
long before they're introduced - and have time to
organise a response. Recently, this was clearly demonstrated when a
relatively small breeding company entered a new
type of geranium with white flowers and a bold pink
eye in the Fleuroselect trials. It performed well
and was awarded a Quality Mark but by the time it
was released, as 'Venus', one of the huge
multinational companies had rushed out a similar,
but less good variety, called 'Maverick Star'. Of course if plant breeders entered all their
newcomers there would be so many that the system
would collapse. But one aspect of the trials which
has benefited home gardeners immensely is that the
system has encouraged breeders raising open
pollinated varieties, especially hardy annuals.
Many of these can easily be pirated, you simply
collect seed and grow some more. If you do that
with F1 hybrids, of course, they don't come
true. Fleuroselect members agree not to pirate each
other's varieties so breeders can be sure of a
reasonable return on their investment in a new
introduction. This protection is valuable even
without Gold Medal. So although some superb varieties have never
even been entered into Fleuroselect and some have
gained awards for reasons which are of little
interest to home gardeners, there are no real
disasters amongst recent award winners. Given the
poor things some companies put on the seed racks,
we can grow Fleuroselect winners sure that for none
of them will we say at the end of the season: 'That
was a complete waste of time.' The pick of the
crop Bedding plants are constantly being updated, but
this is my choice of the best of the medal winners
that are currently available, including one or two
from many years ago, Begonia 'Pin-Up' Spectacular white
flowered, tuberous begonia with a pretty pink
picotee to the single flowers. 1991 Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' Semi-double,
golden flowers on this hardy perennial. Flowering
starts in July from a March sowing, earlier in
succeeding years. 1989 Cosmos 'Sonata White' Superb, pure white
dwarf cosmos reaching about 18in. Dwarf enough to
suit all gardens but not so dumpy as to be ugly.
1991 Lavatera 'Silver Cup' Beautiful shining
pink mallow with dark veins and a long flowering
season. One of the best of the medal winners all
for gardeners. 1979. Lobelia 'Fan Scarlet' Spectacular
perennial lobelia making a bushy and prolific clump
in its first year. 1995 Petunia 'Lavender Storm' The most weather
resistant of the large flowered Grandiflora
petunias, it's been unrivalled in recent years.
1996 Rudbeckia 'Goldilocks' Wonderful double
flowered, orange-yellow rudbeckia. Not always as
fully double as it once was, but still good. Raised
in Britain. 1985 Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red' A
completely new type of red salvia, altogether more
elegant than the usual scarlet salvia and fits well
into mixed borders. 1992 Salvia farinacea 'Strata' Delightful,
long flowering salvia with dark blue, white-eyed
flowers set on white stems. Still flowering for me
in mid October last year. 1996 Tagetes 'Safari Tangerine' Astonishingly
vivid colour, very prolific and not too dumpy. Just
the thing for splash with style. 1992 Verbena 'Peaches & Cream' Unique
colouring, opening rich coral pink and ageing
through salmon shades to peachy yellow. 1992 Viola 'Velour Blue' Highly prolific
mini-pansy with dark blue flowers shading to pale
blue. Good in spring or summer. 1994. Not exactly for the compost
heap, but... Ammobium alatum 'Bikini' A shorter
version of the white flowered everlasting. Useful,
but a Gold Medal? 1996 Aster 'Starlight Rose' Very short plants
with one dramatic but short burst of flowers which
open all at once. Then nothing. 1992 Fuchsia 'Florabelle' Pretty, and with
plenty of marks for plant breeding achievement, but
cuttings raised varieties will always be superior.
1995 Nicotiana 'Havana Appleblossom' Floppy,
pink-backed, white flowers on very short plants. A
good idea, but an average plant. 1995 Nierembergia 'Mont Blanc' Low, creeping,
bedding version of a rock plant, it often flowers
rather sparsely. 1993 Pelargonium 'Summer Showers' A technical
breakthrough when it first appeared, but never
outperformed cuttings raised ivy-leaved geraniums.
Now upgraded, but also superseded by Tornado. 1986
1997 Gold
Medals This year's Gold medalists are an odd
collection, and some have not even been taken up by
the our seed companies. Celosia 'Bombay Purple' A cockscomb style
cut flower with long stems topped with flat, fan
shaped flowers in rich purple. Gained its award for
its novelty, its ability to produce a huge number
of cut flowers from a small area and its flat heads
making packing in boxes more convenient! Delphinium 'Centurion Sky Blue' A
perennial delphinium with pale blue, white-eyed
flowers, Centurion Sky Blue flowers prolifically in
its first year and lasts well as a cut flower.
Growing tips: Sow in January or February at 25C,
then after four days reduce the temperature to 15C.
Prick out into individual pots or cells, grow on at
10C, harden off then plant out in late May or early
June for flowering later in the summer. Stake well,
plants which topple over tend to die off in cold,
wet winters. Gazania 'Daybreak Bright Orange' The most
brilliant colour yet in gazanias, a dramatic
shining orange. However, a whole page of technical
information from Fleuroselect neglects to mention
that in cool, dull weather the flowers of this
variety close up, as they do in all gazanias. This
feature was very noticeable on the Wisley gazania
trials last year. Perhaps this is why no seed
company has taken it up but you should find it in
garden centres in May. Myosotis 'Rosylva' This neat growing,
pink flowered forget-me-not gained its award for
its clear colouring (which shows up poorly in
pictures), its bushy growth, its uniform neat habit
and its long flowering season, starting early and
finishing late.Growing tips: Sow in June or July,
in pots in the greenhouse at about 18C. Prick out
into cells and plant out in well drained soil in
September or early October. Other Fleuroselect awards for 1997... Amongst the varieties which gained Quality Marks
for 1997, look out for the following: Helichrysum Chico Series Dwarf
helichrysums, a five-colour series which although
dwarf are not too dumpy. Linaria Fantasia Series A real departure
with clouds of flowers in five colours and great in
containers. Impatiens Mosaic Lilac A prettily
speckled container variety, listed by most seed
companies. Tanacetum Virgo A tightly double,
cream-eyed white feverfew for bedding or
cutting. And further into the
future... There were some spectacular entries in this
year's trials. Seed of the winners, which have not
yet been named or announced, should be in next
autumn's catalogues. Red veined petunia This spectacular white
petunia with its brilliant red veins divided
opinion at the Fleuroselect convention in
California last summer, but I'm sure it will be
popular. Now introduced as Petunia 'Strawberry
Sundae'. White corn cockle An easy to grow hardy
annual, this new colour break looked wonderful at
some trials and but less good at others. The
flowers are much larger than those of other corn
cockles.Now introduced as Agrostemma 'Ocean
Pearl'. Zinnia for the UK This pink zinnia did
far better than the zinnias which won Fleuroselect
medals all those years ago. Now introduced as
Zinnia 'Profusion Cherry'. Where to see the
winners Ayr Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive
(01292 520331) Belfast Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park,
Belfast Devon RHS Garden, Rosemoor, Torrington (01805
624067) Durham Wycliffe Hall Botanical Gardens, Barnard
Castle Greenock Inverclyde District Council Gwent Festival Park, Victoria, Ebbw Vale Leeds Golden Acre Park (0113 246 3504) Lincolnshire Springfields Gardens, Spalding
(01775 724843) London Capel Manor Horticultural Centre,
Enfield, Middlesex (0181 366 4442) Surrey RHS Garden, Wisley (01483 224234) Swansea City of Swansea Botanic Gardens Yorkshire Harlow Carr Botanical Gardens,
Harrogate (01423 565418)
First published in BBC Gardeners World magazine, February 1997
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