A few weeks ago, all varieties from the Allure line of nursery Berg Roses were on the FloraPodium. One strain really stood out from this top selection. A beautiful large-flowered, romantic rose. Very suitable for the bridal season, but also very for the upcoming Mother's Day, which is celebrated in many countries on May 9. We spoke to Arie van den Berg, director of Berg Roses. He told us all about this showpiece of Berg Roses: "Sophia Loren"!

Mountain roses

Berg Roses, where roses have been grown for more than 45 years, is, like many other nurseries, a real family business. Arie's father started growing roses in 1975. Arie took over the company in 2007. In recent years, rose cultivation in the Netherlands has declined considerably due to competition from South America and Africa. Nevertheless, Arie thinks that the most beautiful roses are still grown in the Netherlands. “This cultivation is the most stable in the Netherlands, we can supply roses of better quality all year round”.

In the spotlight

Arie regularly visits various breeders to make the right selection for his cultivation. Sophia Loren comes from breeder Spek Roses. There were only ten plants with only two flowers and the crop didn’t even have a name yet. For Arie it was love at first sight!

The Sophia Loren rose, named after the Italian movie star, has a very beautiful large flower with a full bud. In addition, she has a very beautiful special color; a color that you will quickly recognize from the many varieties of roses and which is ideally suited for use at weddings, holidays or events. All this makes Sophia Loren a very exclusive rose with a very exclusive and fitting name.

After the first "meeting" at Spek Roses, a small number of plants were first planted to test the variety. After the rose turned out to meet all expectations, it was possible to expand from 20 plants to 750m2. Not only Berg Roses saw potential in the rose, it was also very well received, so last year they expanded the cultivation to 13,000 m2.

Berg Roses is the only nursery in the Benelux that is allowed to grow this variety and it allows Arie to deliver the quality he stands for and to guarantee that the rose is grown properly. And it has the added advantage for a florist that they can distinguish themselves in the market with a variety like Sophia Loren, because they can offer an exclusive product.

Berg Roses grows 13 varieties of roses on 16 ha of land with a production of 1.3 to 1.4 million roses per week. Arie tries to buy off the varieties that are grown exclusively, so that his varieties can remain truly unique and are distinctive from other types of roses. “We want to be a brand for florists in Europe with the roses we grow. I believe in vertical integration: more cooperation with the trade, cooperation with breeders, together upholding our beautiful profession. ”

Cultivation process

The roses are planted from cuttings. The shrubs grow loose from the ground in rock wool bags. The water they receive is given through an infusion that is connected to a closed water system. The excess water is collected, recycled and reused. The first roses can be harvested ten weeks after planting the cuttings. A good rose variety can last up to eight years before it needs to be replaced.

Every day the employees go through the crop to cut the roses, in summer when it is warmer even twice a day. After harvesting, the roses are immediately placed in water, after which they are first put in cold storage for 24 hours. Here the roses can absorb the water with a pre-treatment agent, which really improves the quality. The roses becomes stronger, so that the consumer can enjoy them longer.

Sorting

After these 24 hours, the roses are hung in the sorting machine and sorted by means of camera techniques. The roses are selected for the width and height of the bud, color, maturity and length of the stems. Each sorting machine has 20 stations. Each variety can therefore be selected on 20 different qualities. Berg Roses is able to meet many of the customer's wishes and thus deliver tailor-made solutions. Every customer gets the desired length, number and button size.

Sleeving the roses is done by hand. A final (human) look is then cast at the bunch, so that a final correction can be made.

Future

In the coming years, Arie hopes to be able to add even more exclusive varieties to his cultivation. In addition, he strives to make biological crop protection more sustainable, to develop smart and sustainable packaging and to install LED lighting in the greenhouses, so that much less light and heat is released, so that more energy will be saved. In short, enough plans! And we will certainly come back when there are new varieties of roses to admire.

FloraPodium, 22 April 2021