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CUT-FLOWER TRADE IN ROSES |
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In Australia the cut-flower trade for roses is very neglected. In America, England, France, and other oversea countries many millions of rose blooms are sold each year. One of America's leading retail florists (Max Schling, of New York) reports that "roses represent over seventy-five per cent of our total sales. In selling, they represent a hundred per cent in our thoughts. About ninety per cent of our purchasers turn instinctively to roses or to combinations with roses". Years ago, he states, roses were less beautiful and in less demand, but the hybridist has caught up with the more highly developed taste and the more refined artistic demand.
The cut-flower market demands free-blooming habit, adequate size of flower, clear colour, good keeping qualities, and length and stiffness of stem. Perfume is of little importance in this sphere. Any rose will last much better if handled carefully by the grower, the retailer, and the purchaser. Flowers will always wilt quickly in draughts and in heat. Vast numbers of roses are grown in hot-houses overseas, for show and for sale. Sydney has Australia's largest trade in roses as cut flowers, and many acres of plants are to be seen in the areas north and north-west of the city. Only a small number of varieties are grown, and among them Talisman, Golden Ophelia, fitoile de Hollande, White Ensign, Radiance, and Red Radiance are the most prominent. Crimson Glory is not a satisfactory rose for this purpose, for it recommences growth too slowly. Discriminating amateurs now seldom grow any of the Radiance family, but they are a great asset to the commercial cut-flower growers, with their great resistance to disease and constant growth. They may not be good roses by modern standards of blooms, but people must have roses of some sort, and, while the demand exceeds the supply of the more beautiful varieties, Radiance will still be grown and sold in large numbers. |
