Tianlang went to France for 7 days. What interesting and informative stories did he bring back?

Roses are not delicate medicine jars, but tough wild guys?!

European roses like to use grafted seedlings, not because grafted seedlings are superior, but because they have no choice?!

The dreaded red spider mite in rose care can be perfectly solved by just keeping a small spider?!

……

This morning, we caught the "desperado wolf" who had just returned from a business trip to Meilland, had already adjusted to the time difference and restarted work mode, and we quickly conducted a 1h interview.

What he saw and heard during the seven days in France was so information-dense and nutrient-rich that while clutching my excited little heart, I couldn't wait to record it and earnestly share it with every rose fanboy/fangirl.

(You ask me what Meilland is? It is a rose breeding company that influences the world.)

Q: Uncle Wolf, you wandered around France for such a long time this time. What were you mainly there to do?

Uncle Wolf: We're cooperating with Meilland, right? This time I went to discuss the specific details of the next stage of cooperation; besides that, to see how they run their nursery and learn from their experience; and by the way, "Little Sheep" (Matthias, the sixth-generation heir of the Meilland family) took me to visit garden centers in France.

Q: We all know that compared with Austin roses, the rose varieties produced by Meilland have outstanding disease resistance. Is this their main breeding goal?

Uncle Wolf: Meilland's garden roses are completely selected in an environment without spraying pesticides. In their view, disease resistance is not a breeding goal, but the foundation of becoming a variety; cut-flower roses, because they are selected and bred in greenhouses, do get a little pesticide applied.

Q: Compared with our nursery, is their nursery big? Is it highly intensive?

Uncle Wolf: The core area of Meilland is not large. The company's headquarters is in Nice, with a research center where the cultivation of new varieties and the early screening and testing of new varieties are all completed;

There is also a research center in Lyon, mainly for online sales and bare-root seedling sales, as well as production and R&D testing for garden center products; as long as it is in the testing area, no pesticides are sprayed. In addition, there are many production bases in other countries and regions.

Q: This time at Meilland, did you see any great new varieties?

Uncle Wolf: In rose breeding, without the addition of new original species, there will be no major breakthroughs in flower shape and color; the new varieties we are cultivating now are varieties that can be grown very well in a purely natural state without spraying pesticides. These are very valuable new varieties.

For example, the climbing roses we all absolutely love. This time I saw more than 100 open-air grown varieties in the test field (which they call the "rose territory"), and some leaves did not have a single black spot.

I marked them all so they would know these are the varieties selected by us, and later they will be sent back to China to be tested in our nursery. If they are still very disease-resistant here, then this variety is a brand-new variety.

The roses in the "rose hell" are not sprayed or fertilized, and still bloom beautifully!

Q: So, these excellent varieties, after we bring them back to China for testing, will meet everyone in the future?

Uncle Wolf: Yes. Then let me reveal a little about the cooperation with Meilland.

This year is the third year of our cooperation. In the first two years, we only simply signed a contract, but when we truly wanted to introduce their excellent varieties, they were unwilling to give them. This year, because trust has increased, they are willing to give as many as we want. I think I only marked more than 100 varieties~

Yes, we've witnessed your friendship~

In their test nursery, there are thousands upon thousands of varieties, but they all only have code names, no names; whichever one you like, you hang a tag on it, and later they will send us these cuttings. We will then continue testing. A rose variety that grows well in France does not mean it will grow well here.

Before formally recommending these excellent varieties to everyone, the work we need to do: testing, naming, applying for trademark patents, and then releasing them... The whole process takes two years.

If you like it, just hang a tag and that counts as picking it~

Q: I feel everyone will be very excited about the more than 100 varieties you picked?

Uncle Wolf: Really? Then let's all stay curious together, hahahaha... Meilland releases no more than 6 new varieties to the market each year, so the pace at which we release them to the market will not be especially fast either.

More than 100 varieties, honestly, can take several years to handle. And maybe next year I'll go again and select more than 100 varieties, the year after that go again and select many more, and promote them 10 years later. (Uncle Wolf, when it comes to digging pits, I only admire you!)

Q: Does "no pesticide spraying" have any guiding effect on our own future breeding?

Uncle Wolf (suddenly serious face (￢ω￢)): Right now everyone blindly pursues the ornamental value of roses and takes care of them too meticulously... Next, disease resistance will become a foundation of our breeding, and only then will we consider flowers that look good, have a decent plant shape, have fragrance... these things.

Q: You just said you went to visit a garden center. Was there a lot of people there? Was it in the suburbs?

Uncle Wolf: When I went, it was Thursday, exactly a workday. There were not many people in the store, but fewer people made it more suitable for looking around, otherwise all you'd see would be the backs of everyone's heads. It is said that on weekends there are a lot of people. Especially in this season, all kinds of herbaceous flowers are now the main attraction.

Q: What differences are there between garden centers in France and garden centers in China?

Uncle Wolf: Thinking carefully, there are many differences.

The city of Lyon has dozens of garden centers. Because the customer groups they face are different, the products sold in suburban and downtown garden centers are all different. For example, in suburban garden centers the plants are larger, with more trees, conifers, and fruit trees, while downtown ones have more succulents and shade-tolerant plants...

Downtown garden centers also integrate other business formats, such as book bars, manicures, beauty services, dining... While buying flowers, you can also pick up some daily necessities (toothbrushes, shampoo, etc.). They truly integrate gardening into life.

Their garden center design is also more concise and intelligent. Sun-loving plants can be placed in glass rooms, while green plants and ferns can be placed in indoor areas; for plants with high water needs, the shelves are also like the tidal benches used in production, with watering valves, making watering very convenient.

Q: From your observations, what do you think French flower lovers' understanding of gardening and gardens is like?

Uncle Wolf: For them, gardening is a lifestyle they have been exposed to since childhood. They will buy flowers and plants from time to time and decorate their homes beautifully.

In Meilland's e-commerce department, they can sell 500,000 seedlings a year, while their customer service staff is only 4 people.

"Little Sheep" said that their flower lovers do not mind whether rose seedlings are sold with buds or not, as long as the seedlings are healthy and not sick. As for whether the seedlings are a little weak or a little strong, the requirements are not very high. Anyway, roses are full of vitality, and after being grown for a while they become robust. I think this is very much related to the popularity of European gardening culture.

Let me also share an interesting thing with everyone. Isn't this the season when red spider mites are rampant? Everyone is troubled to no end. French roses also tend to grow "little reds," but their solution is not to spray pesticides, but to introduce a kind of small spider that specifically eats red spider mites, put it in a small bag, and later you hang it on the tree and the problem is solved. No pesticides, very environmentally friendly.

There are people in China selling this kind of small spider too, but generally after they finish eating the red spider mites, they starve to death, and next time you have to buy them again, so the treatment effect is not good. How does France do it? After the small spiders finish eating the red spider mites, they still regularly feed the small spiders. I think it is very interesting.

Q: I heard you also served as a judge for a rose competition. Is that true?

Uncle Wolf: It just happened by chance. The thing is like this: the World Federation of Rose Societies has a branch in Lyon, France, and every year it gives awards to rose breeders. This time when I went, it happened to be taking place, and then "Little Sheep" dragged me in to be a judge. There were Austin's, Kordes' roses... all planted in a small park, probably more than 200 kinds.

The judging standard was super simple, that is: do you like this flower, and would you want to plant it in your yard? If yes, then it is excellent; if not, then it is not excellent.

50 points is the base score, and you score according to how much you like it. If you especially like the fragrance of this flower, you can add an extra 10 points, because there is a special fragrance award selection. As long as this variety performs outstandingly in some aspect, it is very likely to be kept.

Q: So the evaluation of awards is this flexible and interesting. Thank you, Uncle Wolf, for sharing. Finally, can you summarize for everyone what the biggest gain from this trip to France was?

Uncle Wolf: It should be truly feeling the Meilland family's love for roses from the bottom of their hearts. In everything they do, there is only one starting point: what do rose lovers truly want? - To build a beautiful rose garden, and such a garden is one without pesticides, one that is healthy. So this family business of more than a hundred years has not blindly expanded. They have always been slowly cultivating: growing roses in the most natural way.

On the other hand, sometimes the goals we set are somewhat narrow, blindly pursuing rose varieties with high looks.

Next, our research route may undergo a series of changes. We will demand more strictly and harshly of ourselves, truly consider things for flower lovers, and breed more rose varieties suitable for the local natural environment.

This trip to France also resolved a doubt I had in my heart for many years: why does Europe always make grafted seedlings?

In the past we always thought grafted seedlings grow fast and grow well. "Little Sheep" said: If I can do cuttings, I definitely won't do grafting.

It turns out that the soil in most parts of Europe is alkaline, while roses like slightly acidic soil. In alkaline soil they grow poorly, turn yellow, suffer nutrient deficiencies, and even die. So they choose grafting. The rootstock used for grafting is generally Rosa canina - a plant native to this kind of saline-alkali land.

At Meilland's test base, a variety will be both grafted and propagated by cuttings at the same time. If the cutting-grown one can grow and grows very well, grafting will not be considered at all.

So grafted seedlings are actually their helpless choice. Everyone, stop dividing into "grafting camp" and "cutting camp"~

Actually, there are still too many things that left a deep impression on me. There are still many, many things to learn. I can only work a little harder, be a little more grounded, and take it slowly~

Okay, this interview is over.

Was there anything you were interested in?

What other small questions do you have?

Please write them in the comments.

I'll pass a little note to Uncle Wolf~

END