BETSY BRZEZINSKI
Up the Supply Chain BY AMANDA JEDLINSKY
IN SEARCH OF A BETTER BERRY > With its range of yellow to orange to red berries, ilex — also known as winter- berry — offers a textural, festive addition to fall and winter floral arrangements, as well as garlands and wreaths. But as many in the floral industry
know, the older varieties of ilex can sometimes be disappointing. “The regular ilex is a little sparse, and by the time it ships and comes out of the box, it’s even more sparse,” says Mike Black, owner of Jet Fresh Flower Distributors in Miami. “Ilex isn’t cheap, so when you are buying something like that you want it to be showy.” It is also labor intensive to grow the
deciduous shrub for use in floral designs, says Lane DeVries, AAF, president and CEO of Sun Valley Floral Farms in Arcata, California. In the older varieties, the berries didn’t extend to the tip of the branch unless the roots were cut back or a chemical was used to stunt growth. “Pruning is a lot of work, and using a growth retardant isn’t good for the envi- ronment,” DeVries says. He also wasn’t particularly impressed with the berry density, yield and holding capacity of older varieties. So in 2006, he set out to develop
a better variety of ilex. “The whole premise was finding varieties where that berry set is close to the [end of the] stem,” he says. He started with test specimens that
were planted at his second farm, Willow Creek, about an hour’s drive east of the Arcata farm in northern California. The ilex grew along a bend next to the Trinity River, providing the ideal microclimate for moisture-loving ilex. DeVries ranked those plants using a scale based on the positioning of berries on the stem, saturation of color, size and number of berries, and stem length. DeVries then propagated cuttings
from the top 20 performers. Those plants were evaluated again — and the process repeated over and over for 10 years until DeVries was satisfied he’d identified the plants with most desirable traits. Then, he let the flowers from those plants cross pollinate with the help of
bees, creating new varieties of ilex. Those, too, were put through rigorous testing. What he noticed was that the plants with more berries tended to produce berries in clusters of three, rather than one. “That’s what really gives this profuseness of berries,” he says. The result of his years-long breeding
program are two new patented variet- ies of ilex, ‘Autumn Spirit’ and ‘Winter Spirit,’ the latter of which was awarded a Blue Ribbon and named “Best in Class” in the Society of American Florists’ Outstanding Varieties Competition, held in conjunction with SAF Phoenix 2023 in September. DeVries’ new varieties not only have dense berries that extend to the tip of the branch, but to his satisfac- tion, they are also more productive than other types of ilex, producing up to 20
stems per plant. “It’s a good variety all the way around,” he says. Black, who sells ‘Winter Spirit’ from
Jet Fresh’s Miami warehouse, agrees, and says the variety is advantageous for florists because they don’t have to use as many stems of ‘Winter Spirit’ as they would of the older varieties. “They can actually use less inventory to get the same look,” he says.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the senior content strategist for the Society of American Florists and editor in chief of Floral Management.
46 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | November/December 2023 |
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