June 30, 2022
“It was really, really, really successful!” This was the excited conclusion of Jessica Suwanprapa, Key Account Manager for Syngenta Flowers Business International. Jessica reflected on Syngenta Flowers’ participation to the 2022 Gardens by the Bay trial in Singapore on July 30th.
This Southeast Asian trial is quickly becoming an international renowned platform for showcasing genetics under the tropical sun.
Key Account manager Jessica Suwanprapa
Breeder Cultivar Trial
Gardens by the Bay in Singapore invited several international breeding companies to their second Breeder Cultivar Trial initiative. The Research and Horticulture team at the Gardens ran the trials, along with the technical support of Research Committee Advisor Dr. Paul Fisher from the University of Florida. Syngenta has been a partner from the start of this annual event and proudly presented its portfolio selection, accompanied with a smooth marketing display.
This years’ theme was “Hanging Gardens by the Bay”. And that is why the Syngenta Flowers showcase focused on heat-tolerant varieties that do exceptionally well in a hanging basket.
The year 2022 marked the 10 years anniversary of Gardens by the Bay. Since the opening to the public the venue has reached nearly 50 million visitors. Since borders begin to open up worldwide Singapore expects visitors to return soon in great numbers. This made it a perfect moment to introduce new and exciting plants to the professional audience of growers, landscapers, young plant raisers and other stakeholders in the ornamental industry.
All crops were grown in both controllable greenhouse and outdoor to show the different plant performance.
Presenting new genetics
Jessica’ amazed her audience with the Extra Disease Resistant Vinca’s in the series Cora Cascade XDR. This trailing vinca is the only one in the market that is powered by high levels of multiple strains of aerial phytophthora. Its mounded spreading habit makes it ideal fur summer baskets, mixed containers and large landscape beds.
And when it comes to XDR (Extra Disease Resistancy) the Imara XL could count on a lot of appreciation from the audience. Clearly downy mildew has become an issue in many markets and the high degree of resistance from the Imara is the genetics of choice to ‘take back the shade’.
In Petunia Jessica had to convince the audience that the large flowering pots are really from seeds, and not vegetative varieties. FotoFinish, FlashForward (milliflora) and Skybox are three stunning pendula-type series with a uniform spreading habit and extra early flowering time. Fotofinish has reduced daylength sensitivity which makes it excellent programmable flowering in 9-10 weeks. Skybox has a very uniform and showy star pattern that provides a high-quality option for high volume spring promotions. And the tidy plants of FlashForward hold longer at retail than traditional trailing petunias and don’t overgrow companions in mixed containers. So it ‘plays well alone and with others’.
It took Jessica quite some time to convince her audience that over a hundred flowers can emerge from one single seed in sunflowers. “Our Sunfinity is really a next generation of sunflowers. It offers nonstop blooming and continuous flowers all season long. The multi-blooming plants even allow home gardeners the opportunity to cut and enjoy flowers indoors as well as in the garden.”
Audience
The event attracted over 150 visitors both from Singapore and international markets. Among them a group of 20 Malaysian growers, and growers from Indonesia and Vietnam.
A small delegation of the Syngenta APAC Head Quarters office attended the presentation. Colleagues showed their excitement about Syngenta Flowers: “I never knew that we had such beautiful flowers genetics in our company. This is truly amazing.” Jessica had a small surprise for them. All Syngenta colleagues could bring home a Petunia Skybox pot to enjoy at home.
A large group of Malaysian growers showed great interst on the Petunia varieties and sought for the new varieties to replace their current genetics. Mrs. Suwanprapa advised to use FotoFinish and the next step will be the trial to check on its performance. In addition, they are more convinced to use Vinca Cora Cascade XDR to replace their current variety Vinca Mediterranean.
Many landscapers from Singapore were excited about Sunfinity's performance and are keen to trial Sunfinity in their own facilities.
Sunfinity and Imara XL Star Mix with 4 segregating colors are the selected products that Garden by the Bay's communication team will publish in their Horticultureal industrymagaz in on social media soon.
Topics
Species
