The DNA of resilience: how lily cultivation is building the flower of the future

To understand the lily of the future, we therefore need to go back to the very start of the chain: to the collaboration between breeders, bulb growers and flower growers. That is where resilience begins.

In this first instalment, we speak to two entrepreneurs who are each helping to shape that future from their own place in the chain. Levi Evers is one of the four brothers behind Bredefleur, where lily bulbs are grown on into flowers for the market. Gert Seubring operates earlier in the chain: as a bulb grower, he propagates the starting material that growers such as Bredefleur will later work with. Together, they show that resilience is not a separate choice, but a process that begins years in advance.

Before a lily bulb arrives in Bredefleur’s greenhouse, it has already travelled a long way. After breeding, it reaches a bulb grower such as Gert Seubring. There, it becomes clear just how far ahead the sector has to think.

“Resilience actually begins one step before me, with the breeder,” says Seubring. “That is where they look at the characteristics of a new variety and whether any natural resistance is present. Then it is up to us as bulb growers to decide whether we go along with that.”

New techniques make it possible to assess young varieties at an early stage for traits that contribute to resilient cultivation. As a result, attention is shifting increasingly from appearance to the strength of the plant itself. That does not mean beauty is disappearing. A lily still has to appeal to both florists and consumers. But resilience now plays a much greater role than it did only a few years ago.

“Five or six years ago, you hardly asked those questions,” says Seubring. “Now, with a new variety, you immediately ask: has resistance been looked at? And what came out of that?”

In many sectors, planning a few months ahead is already considered long term. In bulb cultivation, people think in years. When Seubring decides today to propagate a bulb, it takes around four years before that produces bulbs ready for delivery. After that, they go to a grower such as Bredefleur for another season before the first flowers are available for the market. And that is without counting the years already spent with the breeder.

“A decision I make today will only be seen as a flower in about five years’ time,” he explains.

That makes the choices complicated. After all, no one knows exactly which colours, shapes or varieties will be most popular in five years.

That is why bulb growers deliberately spread their bets. Alongside proven varieties, new types are given the chance to prove themselves. Only after years of practical experience does it become clear which ones will ultimately succeed.

Bredefleur also plays an important role in this process. As a buyer of the bulbs, the company constantly feeds back which varieties perform well in the greenhouse and, ultimately, for the customer. That information then flows back to the bulb grower and the breeder.

“It really is a collaborative effort,” says Levi. “We ask our customers what they see in new varieties. In the end, the whole chain decides together which lilies have a future.”

According to Levi, that collaboration is essential for making cultivation more sustainable.

Where the focus used to be on solving problems during cultivation, attention is now shifting more and more towards preventing them. A resilient plant needs less support during the growing process. That requires a different way of thinking.

“Ultimately, you want to be less dependent on corrective action afterwards,” says Seubring. “That is why resilience is becoming increasingly important.”

The considerations involved in choosing new varieties are changing too. Of course, flower shape, colour and vase life remain important, but traits that contribute to more sustainable cultivation are increasingly taken into account as well.

“One variety may be just that little bit more beautiful,” says Seubring. “But if another variety is stronger and more resistant to disease, that is becoming more and more interesting.”

For a florist, a lily may be defined mainly by its colour, shape or qualities such as fragrance and pollen. But behind every stem lie years of decisions. Decisions made by breeders searching for strong traits. By bulb growers who invest for years before a variety becomes available. And by flower growers who eventually grow those plants into flowers.

“A florist does not need to be a cultivation specialist,” says Levi. “But it is valuable to know how much work and how many choices lie behind a single lily. That story only adds value to the product.”

Seubring also hopes that this story will be told more often.

The whole chain is therefore working towards the same goal: a lily that is not only beautiful, but also naturally stronger. A development that begins in the DNA of the plant.

But how do you actually discover which traits a new variety has? How can researchers see at an early stage whether a lily is better able to withstand disease? And how do you develop new, more sustainable varieties in harmony with nature?

In part two, we visit Wageningen University & Research, where researcher Paul Ruigrok shows how science is laying the foundations for the resilient lily of the future.