Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
decide the best candidates to promote and work with in the following year. Work-
ing groups also support research institutions to conduct programmes to determine
production and biological studies into ornamental plants. In Australia funding has
been provided by the Federal Government by the Rural Industries Research and
Development Corporation (RIRDC). This has supported many research projects in
the development of Australian wildflowers. One project has been the Best Bet Pro-
gram in which exporters collectively list crops of high demand that are undersup-
plied (Slater and Carson
2003
).
However, to answer the question “does the plant have exciting and unique plant
characters?” means often that plants must be sought from the more exotic climates.
This has been used as a way of sourcing something new. This however can pose a
number of challenges; namely, will these features of the plant, appeal to people in
another city or country, and if they do will the introduced plant successfully fit into
a new environment and be able to flourish under different climatic constraints.
New characters have been a driving force for many plant introductions. These
include the new colours and forms of
Brachyscome multifida,
Helichrysum brac-
teatum,
and
Lobelia erinus
from South Africa and
Scaevola
(
aemula
) originat-
ing from Australia, as well as
Impatiens
-New Guinea hybrids (von Hentig et al.
1995
). Many members of the hydrangea family, such as
Hydrangea paniculata,
H. macropylla, H. quercifolia and H. serrata
came originally come from tropical
regions. Other examples include
Helichrysum bracteatum
which provides striking
tall stems with large golden coloured compound flowers and
Scaevola
saligna
which provides striking blue flowers. The particularly showy display of lobelia
can be attractive as it cascades over pots and hanging baskets and can make a
striking bedding plant. Introducing a new ornamental requires detailed work by
the horticulturist to explore all the forms and shades of the plant to maximise the
flower's impact such as the different shades of colour which may have an impact
on the market. This is best illustrated with the introduction of the hydrangea into
Europe. These flowers have been successfully marketed for a long time and part
of the reason is the wide flower choice available and the continuing development
of new cultivars. In 2012 European different nurseries listed 18 to 32 cultivars
for sale that included colours ranging from red, white, pink, pink/white and blue
(Vandeputte
2012
; Wiley De Nolf
2012
).
In recent years new ornamentals were successfully introduced into Europe be-
cause of the following reasons:
Novelty
In the late 1980s
Centradenia
(
Heterocentron
)
inaequilateralis
'Cascade'
was introduced as a bedding plant to Central Europe. It is a day-neutral plant which
needs temperatures of 12 to 15 °C to induce prolific flowering (Friis and Christensen
1989
). Because temperatures are well above this range in summer (i.e. 21 °C) the
plants remain largely vegetative, losing potential market appeal during this season.
These impact on sales and customers replace the plant for others, and then sales have
to be reignited in the following summer. To achieve ornamental value of the plant
throughout the whole season, selection and careful management should be provided
for healthy vegetative growth over summer and sustainable flowering over winter.
Similarly in the late 1990s a
Plectranthus
form was introduced and advertised to
