There’s no better way to kick off the year than with a burst of color, and United Selections’ Open Days 2025 did just that! Held in January, the event started a vibrant and fulfilling year for growers, breeders, and flower enthusiasts alike. With their tagline, 'Breeding a Colorful Future', United Selections set the tone for a year of inspiring collaborations and exciting opportunities.
Visitors were treated to an extraordinary showcase, featuring the incredible rose varieties of United Selections, chrysanthemums of Icon Selections, and the elegant Alstroemerias of Könst Alstroemeria. Not forgetting partner Breeders like WAC Breeding and Infinity Breeding who also contributed to the experience, ensuring that every grower and florist found something to brighten their future. The Open Days provided great opportunities for building strong networks and forging lasting partnerships.
An Experience Beyond Roses
This year's Open Days exceeded expectations according to United Selections. Every visitor was treated to tailored and guided tours of every greenhouse, benefiting from the technical conversations about each variety of a rose, Chrysanthemum, or Alstroemeria. The special attention and ambiance made the Open Days a memorable experience.
For many growers, such an event is always a break from their growing routine. They delight in the latest industry conversations, networking, and choosing new varieties that will eventually become winners. It is a chance to create a legacy, to give new varieties a platform to shine and to embrace their sentiments, nurture, and eventually share the same joy with the rest of the world.
Varieties That Stole the Show
Unlike any other floral exhibitions, Open Days stand out because of an opportunity to review a variety holistically, both in a vase and on the crop. One can check how it performs in the vase, from its opening, color; and more so how it grows in the greenhouse, its length, the foliage, the number of thorns, and cut points among other details.
Several varieties stole the show from each breeder, culminating in enormous trials and requests for sample bunches. Some varieties are already established in the market, while for most, this was the beginning of an amazing journey.
The Colorful Roses From United Selections
United Selections continuously strives to breed and introduce rose varieties that meet different altitudes and market needs. Open Days presented an opportunity to showcase their milestones in this regard. The following varieties gained significant attention from the breeder;
Rose Nova Vita
This elegant, luxurious, pristine white rose continues to amaze, more than three years later since its introduction into the market. Its pure white color, incredible opening, overall performance on the vase, and also growing wise, made Rose Nova Vita a desirable variety.
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Apart from Rose Nova Vita, new introductions like; Rose Juicy and Rose Hot Wave were well received and appreciated by different clients too.
Spray Rose Snowy Blossoms
Snowy Blossoms, from the Blossoms series, is a white spray rose with relatively bigger buds, great length, and on average 6 buds per stem. Its uniformity, production, and vase performance made this spray stand out during the Open Days.
Spray Rose Velvet Blossoms
Velvet Blossoms, with its red velvety shade, is a true charm, it brings a unique touch to all your red rose needs for the Valentine's season.
New and upcoming spray roses like spray Rose Champagne Blossoms grown by Sian Flowers did not disappoint either, with new introductions like Misty Charm, Desire, and Pearl Blossoms.
Icon Selections With the Mums
More than a year ago since the partnership with United Selections and the opening of their show house in Kenya. Icon Selections celebrated this milestone with a successful showcase and resourceful interactions with its clients during the Open Days. Chrysanthemum varieties; Super Star, Kolosos (Disbuds), and Santinis (Dotty, Nebulas, and Candy Crush) received lots of appreciation.
Jan Haaksman, the Managing Director of Icon Selections noted that;
"The past one year was a great learning curve, establishing networks, testing and now we are proud of the milestones realized thus far. It was really nice to witness immense interest from different visitors towards our mums, every conversation contributed to a satisfactory experience."
Looking into the future Icon Selections is confident with its wide assortment and more new varieties coming up, they have a diverse product range to meet every customer's need. They acknowledged Open Days as a pivotal moment to get feedback, share new offerings, and reconnect with their clients.
Alstroemerias From Könst Alstroemeria
United Selections' Open Days offered a myriad of options to choose from, if roses and mums were not your focus crops then how about the elegant and ever-beautiful Alstroemerias from Könst Alstroemeria? These beauties radiated excitement and color, that could not be ignored.
From the vase to the greenhouse, Alstroemerias which were fully open, expressed their magical touch, a promise of a great show ahead for each client visiting. Varieties like; Debby, Bianca, and Purple Rain captured the attention of many visitors with their stunning beauty and traits.
Collaboration as a Strategy
United Selections values collaboration as a strategy, due to this approach, they have been able to provide different flowers under one roof for their clientele. This creates significant convenience and traction, the reason why their Open Days attract a huge number of Kenyan growers.
Present during the Open Days were also some of the varieties from breeders; WAC Breeding and Infinity Breeding who are being represented by United Selections within the African market. Their collaboration in breeding a colorful together is crucial to providing a wide range of varieties for different altitudes, and market needs.
What's Next?
After the Open Days, we head into the Valentine's Day celebration mood, Rose Madam Red from United Selections is making your way to you soon. However, United Selections embarks on yet another rigorous process to plan for Naivasha Open Days at their show house in Nini Farm.
Naivasha Open Days which will feature several other breeders within the region, will be held from 19th-20th of February. They will be communicating on the same in the coming days, but you can reach out to them to book a visit.
