Theodorus (Dick) Houtenbos
Country:
Netherlands and Morocco
Short biography:
I am 66 years old, married, one child living in London. I started my professional career in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia in the early eighties as civil engineer and then switched to flowers in the mid eighties. Wholesale flowertrade in New York City till 2003. Moved to Southern France to grow peonies. Started in 2010 in Morocco with peony cut flower production (Atlas Peonies). Started about the same time with plant propagation in the Netherlands. All still active.
More information:
Peony hybridizers series
Dick Houtenbos
How did you first get involved in peony hybridizing?
We had some interesting new cultivars and started doing it for fun. First trials were done in 2005.
What was your starting material for your hybridizing?
Manitowoc Maiden, Greenland, Pastelegance, The Mackinac Grand, Maria Fairfax
What are your goals in hybridizing peonies?
Added value, round buds, fragrance, double flowers in rose shape and new colours.
Do you mostly depend on open pollination or do you mostly make controlled crosses?
| 100% open | 50/50 | 100% controlled |
How large is your hybridizing program?
We almost discard more crosses than we create, about 100 per year. In the first 10 years we have registered 1 cultivar.
Do you have any plants in the market?
We haven’t yet started, very limited distribution may start in the next season.
Can you describe a few of your plants that you consider the best or most beautiful and which are available now?
“Jill” is our only peony currently registered with the APS.
Parentage: ‘Blushing Princess’ x (‘Manitowoc Maiden’ x ‘Greenland’). First bloomed 2016, first propagated 2018. Early blooming DOUBLE flowers are creamy white, 20 cm (8”) in diameter, upward facing, and average one per stem. Guard petals are rounded, and are typically 5 cm (2”) in width. Slight fragrance. Four tomentose carpels are green, with greenish-yellow stigmas of normal anatomy. No stamens. Produces seed. Leaflets are broad-pointed, and green in color. Plants reach 90 cm (35.5”) at maturity. Growth habit is upright; mechanical support is unnecessary. Named for the daughter of the hybridizer; it is the only cultivar to make it through a rigorous fifteen-year selection process.
Within your current seedlings, what are the most promising ones?
Double white, double pink hybrids and double peach apricot hybrids.
Are you in contact or working together with other peony hybridizers?
Not really, what we do is not fully professional and not just play.
Do you have unregistered plants that are not good enough to introduce but have something ‘special’?
Not really.
Would you like to exchange such ‘hybridizers plants’ with other hybridizers?
Not really. We don’t look at plants that way.
Name a few peony varieties from other hybridizers which you especially like?
Would love to see Kim (Bremer, 2019) of Solaris Farms.
The cultivars of Peony shop (Scholten Joshua and Jeremy) show promising colours.
Final question. Any remarks or suggestions you may have…
Keep up the good work, thanks Koen.
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