Fleuroselect is proud to announce that at its 40th Annual Gala Dinner on 13th June 2009, the 1st Fleuroselect Industry Award was presented to the variety Dianthus x barbatus 'Diabunda^TM Purple Picotee', bred by Har Stemkens from Syngenta Flowers, Enkhuizen, Netherlands.

In this first trial competition of its kind, six innovative, new bedding plants from Fleuroselect breeder members were submitted for judging by a panel of more than 25 industry-wide experts representing the horticultural press, growers, auctions, retailers, plug producers, breeders, seed distributors, pictorial packet companies and plug suppliers to the consumer market. 

In order to provide fair trial conditions, the source of the entries was anonymous, comparison varieties were used as references and plants were grown and displayed at 6 different locations during the week 24 FlowerTrials®: Ball, Beekenkamp Plants, Benary, Fides, Florensis and Syngenta Flowers. Judges were asked to visit at least 4 locations to score the variety versus the comparisons, on point of sale performance, commercial potential and ''wow'' factor. A special feature of this new trial was the timing. Entries were judged over 4 days during the FlowerTrials® and the winner announced immediately. All varieties are available for instant introduction to the market.

While Dianthus x barbatus 'Diabunda ^TM Purple Picotee'  walked away with the main honours, each of the runners-up was judged to be preferable to existing comparison varieties. Dianthus x barbatus 'Diabunda^TM Rose' from Syngenta Flowers, Begonia hybrid 'Smarty Apricot' & Celosia plumosa 'Smart Look Romantic' from Benary and Calibrachoa cultivars 'MiniFamous® Double Lavender' & Osteospermum ecklonis 'Deluxe FlowerPower^TM Copper Amethyst' from Selecta Klemm will be hitting the market as new and exciting introductions.
  
Explaining the motivation of the judges, Joel Goldsmith of Goldsmith Seeds, President of Fleuroselect and Jan Sijm of Hem Genetics, chairman of the award committee, noted that over 70% of the judges had given a resounding YES when asked if the variety deserved the award. An excellent score of 8 out of 10 for presentation and the affirmation from 90% of the judges that the variety was preferable to the comparisons confirmed 'Diabunda^TM Purple Picotee' as a real winner. 

Judges were wildly enthusiastic about the attractive colour and suggested that the striking purple and white colour combination gave the variety a bright, festive look. They also raved about the uniformity, the floriferousness and the excellent quality of the plants.

In accepting the award Gerard Werink of Syngenta Flowers  explained the concept of the name as coming from Dianthus (Dia) with abundant flowers (bunda). The new dianthus can be cultivated for early spring, summer and even autumn sales, which makes it unique in the dianthus family. The purple picotee is part of 6-colour series showing open flowers and plenty of buds, a real advantage for the retailer. The consumer will enjoy the fact that the variety starts as a real Sweet William, but continues flowering all season long. Unique for the growers is that Diabunda^TM is almost day-length neutral and needs far less PGRs than regular Dianthus x chinensis. For the plug producer, the germination level of both raw seeds and pelleted seeds at above 90% is a definite plus.