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Madiba Flower Power!
“Small, and many (up to thirty!) colourful flowers with a long vaselife, and excellent quality are a few of the most important aspects of these Santini.”
Madiba is one of the Santini brands from breeder Dekker Chrysanten. Small, and many (up to thirty!) colourful flowers with a long vaselife, and excellent quality are a few of the most important aspects of these Santini. The amount of stems that can be grown grow per square meter make them very interesting for growers to take on. But did you know they also have a special story?
All the cuttings that lie at the base of the Madiba Santinis come from Tanzania. The mother plants are grown at the foot of the Kilimanjaro by 900 Dekker Chrysanten employees. The cuttings are transported to the Netherlands, where several Dutch growers grow them into the high quality Santini that we buy at Hukra.
Madiba is a brand that strongly connects to its African roots. The name of the brand was the nickname for Nelson Mandela and all varieties are named after African cities. But that’s not all. Madiba supports various social projects in Tanzania. One of those is the Sengerema Foundation, which aims to support underprivileged youths in finishing their education and helps them start their own businesses.
The Madiba Santini are available in every kind of flower shape, ranging from deco to daisy and pompon shaped flowers. Dekker makes conscious choices when it comes to the assortment. Only the best varieties are introduced to the market.
The three Dutch growers that grow Madiba are Westeringh Flowers, Kees de Jongh, and Kwekerij Monnikenwaard. These three growers work closely together to bring the best flowers onto the market, together with Dekker Chrysanten. All of them have been growing Madiba Santini for a good amount of years. All growers hold the MPS A+ certificate among others and are FSI compliant, which means they work according to the standards of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative.
For the occasion of learning all about Madiba, we visited Kees de Jongh. Kees has been growing Madiba Santini since 2010. He has invested a lot into sustainability. His modern nursery is fully equipped with Led lighting, solar panels have been installed on the rooftop, and organic pest control is used. Kees is very passionate about the flowers he grows and involved in every step of the process. From growing to checking the trolleys that leave the nursery, he does it all to ensure the Madiba santini’s are the best quality.
