An Overview of Red Rose Varieties in Kenya

When the Kenyan Red Rose makes its journey from the expansive rose growing belts in East Africa to the many supermarkets, retail outlets, flower auctions and florist ateliers in Europe and other parts of the world, it is well received and perceived to be the ultimate floral expression of love and passion.

Red roses are quite popular all year round, but it normally gets busier working with them during certain specific seasons such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas festive period and other peak periods such as international Women’s Day and Mother’s Day. It is also during this time that you will find rose growers put in place flushing adjustment techniques, so as to enable them have enough stems to push out and meet the demand.

“Quite a number of Kenyan red roses do enjoy good market presence,” this is according to industry veteran Gerjan Telleman of Fresco Flowers, who under his portfolio represents nearly a dozen large Kenyan growers. Compared to the same period last year, Gerjan notes that the general quantity at the auction clock is relatively higher, which he says can be a reflection of improvement in supply and quality of roses from the Kenyan market.

“Although there are quite a number of roses that are sold through the auctions, most African Roses are sold directly to retailers and supermarkets such as Lidl and Tesco.” He says while pointing out Rhodos and Upper Class as two African red rosevarieties currently enjoying most favorable demand. Gerjan notes other attributes such as reliable supply of these two specific reds to their various markets as not only a good way of ensuring consistent presence but also useful in attaining good prices. “Right now Kenyan red roses are attracting anything from 20c to 60c per stem.” He says. “Kenyan red roses do compete favorably with those from other regions such as Colombia and Ecuador.”Kenyan rose growers have been putting in effort to come up with larger varieties especially in higher altitudes, and many farms are producing impressively large flowers.

Kenyan red roses doing well especially during this Valentine’s Day period:

• Freedom (A Hybrid T from Rosen Tantau with a deep red color, a large head and average stemlength of 70-90cm)
• Madam Red (A large red from Preesman with a vaselife of 14-16cm)
• El Toro (An intermediatefrom Olij Roses with a unique shape that travels very well).
• Red Torch (A product of Preesman with 50-80cm stem length, 6cm budsize and good vaselife.
• Red Ribbon (An intermediate that opens very well and has good vaselife)
• Furiosa (A large red from De Ruiter with stem length of up to 70cm)

Above photo shows the rose Red Naomi in trial in Kenya at Schreurs Naivasha. Will it be a serious contender in for valentine 2016?

Revolution from Olij East Africa is a newer yet promising red that has just been introduced to African growers. Following the various early comments and reviews from growers and trade, Revolution might just be one of the new red varieties that players in the industry need to look out for.

Red Alert is a proud novelty by Nirp International that does not blacken easily under any type of plastic. She has a velvety red color and displays good resistance to diseases. She records an average production of 200-220 in the Naivasha altitude

Kenyan red roses... the ultimate floral expression of love and passion