The Romance of Mandevilla

Perhaps we have always been captivated with the dreamy artworks of fairy tales or awed by the beauty of the princesses and the charm of their beaus, but what lends color to these enchanting story books are the artists' rendition of different flowers, mostly that of flowering vines. It just looks so romantic to see the celebrated lovers of our favorite children's tales kiss under an arch of blooming vines.

So much so that the romance of mandevilla has captured the hearts of many plant lovers. And perhaps the only person who has effectively propagated this floriferous plant is Tess Taleon. Tess has acquired the mandevilla plant about two years ago and has since dedicated herself to the propagation of this plant, which was her bestseller during the last orchid show and exhibit here in Bacolod. She displayed a good number of blooming mandevilla plants with trellis and they were so attractive from afar that people just flocked to her booth like bees to a flower. Plus, the buyers were also attracted to its affordable price as Tess also sold small potted plants.

The mandevilla is so versatile that without a trellis, the plant will just grow as a shrub teeming with flowers all year round. But with a framework, it will effectively fill up the shape provided and just continue to bloom. The flowers though are not very good for flower arrangements because they don't have a long vase life or sturdy stems. However, they are surely crowd-drawers in any garden because of their abundant flowers. During our pictorial, however, most of Tess' stocks were sold out but we were able to feast our eyes on her young blooming potted plants at the grow-out area. And she also had hundreds of cuttings on rooting stage at the moment.

Tess' winning business strategy not only during garden shows but the entire year is to supply the market with beautiful new varieties of flowering plants. In short, she gets ahead of her market. "It's like fashion. I need to cater to the changing tastes of my clients," she says. She propagates these new varieties as fast as she could in order to be able to sell the small plants. Her short-term goal is to be able to commercially market rooted cuttings of white and pink mandevilla plants to garden centers and plant nurseries all over the country.

At present, Tess is "seeking wholesale buyers who would order rooted cuttings of the mandevilla plant." She says that rooted cuttings are advantageous for two reasons-they are not so expensive because they are not yet fully grown and the shipping costs are minimal because they are light. "The buyers can just buy these rooted cuttings in bulk and be able to sell it on retail because their production cost would be lessened," she adds. "Some people would rather buy the mother plant and propagate their own plants from this only one. But it takes time to do that, as well as it is very expensive and difficult to ship big mature plants to other places," Tess says. With these small plants, other ornamental plant growers may save themselves the waiting time and the necessary preparations needed for propagation. She also acknowledges that some people are wary about buying rooted cuttings for they are not sure whether they are getting the real thing. That's why Tess advises that buyers should only source out their plants from reputable growers, not from fly-by-night vendors.

Tess says that she has mastered the science of propagating plants through stem cuttings because of the self-timed misting room that her engineer-husband Albert has designed. In the misting room, the plants stay for a certain number of weeks, depending on the plant variety, until the plants grow roots and are ready to be re-planted. An electric-driven deep well pump supplies the water needed in the misting room.

With her dedication and the support of her husband who takes care of the technical side of the operations including infrastructure development, it is not surprising that Tess has stayed in this business for almost 10 years now. And it will not also be a surprise when the world of flowers will see The Flower Place bloom even more in the years to come.

The Flower Place is located at the Circumferential Road, Taculing, Bacolod City. They have countless of varieties of ornamental and flowering plants for every plant lover's desire available all year round. They also cater to the needs of landscapers. However, Tess continues to produce flowers that are distinctly needed for specific seasons or events of the year, such as Valentine's, summertime, All Souls Day, and Christmas.