Vineland highlights horticulture innovation in action

Added on 21 December 2023

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Vineland highlights horticulture innovation in action

Ashley Summerfield and Rose Buitenhuis of Vineland; Photo by Kevin Patrick Robbins.

For more than 117 years, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre has supported the Canadian horticulture industry (and by extension, growers in the U.S.) and government stakeholders in creating innovation opportunities. As a result, Vineland has grown to become Canada’s most successful research and technology organization (RTO) dedicated to horticultural innovation by actively assisting and engaging stakeholders with focused and effective outcome-based research, development, and commercialization support.

Each year, Vineland releases an Innovation Report that highlights some of its major research projects and program. This year’s report includes a few specific to horticulture.

Expanding the Reach of Bred-in-Canada Roses

When British Columbia-based plant brand Bloomin’ Easy wanted to add new rose varieties to its well-known collection of plants for young homeowners, they knew Vineland would have what they were looking for. That’s because Vineland’s cold-tolerant, low-maintenance, disease resistant roses based on germplasm acquired from the former Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada breeding program had become well-known across the country.

“This is perfectly aligned with our approach when we are searching for products to add to Bloomin’ Easy — low maintenance plants for people who don’t know much about gardening,” says Bloomin’ Easy Founder DeVonne Friesen. “We know that roses are one category of plant that everybody is familiar with and that homeowners seek them out but roses are also scary to people; they have a reputation for being hard to grow and maintain.”