After freezing flowers, UF researcher gives Valentine’s tips

Thanks to researchers from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, you may be able to buy higher quality flowers next Valentine’s Day.

Wagner Vendrame, a UF professor who teaches classes on orchids for undergraduate and graduate students, has been studying the endangered flowers since 2001. To fight the decrease of orchids, Vendrame has worked to clone the flowers and develop ways to freeze their seeds.

“The interest in orchids is increasing,” said Vendrame, 52, who works at the institute’s extension in Homestead, Florida.

To clone the flowers, he uses a process called micropropagation, where researchers place plant tissue in petri dishes with nutrients to multiply them. Vendrame said he can turn 50 pieces of the flowers into 300 orchids in three months.

He also freezes seeds or other plant tissues through cryopreservation, the same technique used to preserve human bodies. The specimens can be quickly thawed years after they’re frozen.

“We can insert them with liquid nitrogen that allows those seeds to be frozen forever,” he said.

Vendrame said the best Valentine’s Day flowers are the orchid breeds Phalaenopsis or Dendrobium.

“If you give your girlfriend or your wife a dozen roses, they will last mostly a week if you’re lucky,” he said. “With Phalaenopsis you give a plant in bloom, or buds to open, and they will stay open for three months, for the same price or maybe even cheaper.”

Nicole Pinson, a horticulture agent at the institute’s Hillsborough extension, said landscape plants make better Valentine’s Day gifts.

“The great thing about a plant that would go in the garden is that you would hopefully have a plant that rewards you with flowers year after year,” the 39-year-old said.

Pinson recommends caladiums, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, hibiscus and rosemary. Rosemary, although usually used as a spice, grows well in Florida and is easy to care for, she said.

“Rosemary is also a symbol of remembrance, so you can give them as a Valentine’s day present,” she said.

She said gifts don’t have to be a bouquet of red roses.

“Think outside the box,” Pin- son said. “Forgo the cut flowers, and think about who you’re giving it to.”