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The Koninklijke Vereniging voor Boskoopse Culturen (KVBC, Royal Association for Boskoop Cultures) presented a gold medal to breeder Alex Schoemaker at its annual meeting on 6 February. His Hydrangea paniculata Living Little Rosy® received the prestigious award following the field inspection by the KVBC. In doing so, the KVBC also elected this Hydrangea as Best Novelty 2023.
The following text comes from the jury report: "Living Little Rosy® has a remarkably compact and regular growth habit and beautiful purple-red translucent flower panicles that are well proportioned to the plant size."
Field inspections are multi-year inspections in which the KVBC tests plants for growth and flowering characteristics over long periods. This contrasts with fair inspections, where plants are judged visually purely at one moment. Only exceptionally strong and healthy plants with good growth are eligible for a gold medal. For Alex Schoemaker, this is the 9th medal in the KVBC field inspections, for his Living Creations series. The grower was completely surprised by the plant's election as Best Novelty 2023: "The KVBC tests dozens of novelties every year. Getting a gold medal is a great achievement, but hearing that your novelty is the very best of the whole year is a huge honour."
"The multi-year field inspection proves that Living Little Rosy ® grows remarkably compact by nature, i.e. untreated and unsprayed," says Alex Schoemaker. "The compact growth is Living Little Rosy's most important characteristic, combined with its bright white flowers that turn dark pink. Like the other Hydrangeas within the Living Creations series, the plant is easy to care for and hardy to -30°C.”
Living Little Rosy® previously won the Green Retail award and gold in Royal FloraHolland's shelf-life test. By then the paniculata appeared to perform best in terms of flowering time. This is one of the core values within the Living Creations line of good genetics: the promise of 100 days of flowering.
