Morgan Hill, Califorina, USA
March 14, 2016
On January 16th, Scott Kelly, Expedition Commander on the International Space Station, tweeted a photo of a blooming zinnia at the International Space Station 250 miles above earth. The blooming zinnia is a fantastic development for the future of cultivating flowers and vegetables in space ventures to come. The #SpaceFlower, as Kelly hashtagged in his twitter post, was none other than Sakata Seed’s Profusion Orange zinnia. Profusion Orange is a favorite from Sakata’s extensive line-up of ornamental offerings and an All-America Selections Gold Medal Winner. The variety has continually received accolades and gained popularity in the industry throughout the years for its excellent series uniformity, extreme heat and drought resistance, and disease resistance, making it easy to grow.
The zinnia space cultivation began November 16th, 2015 by astronaut, Kjell Lindgren, as part of the Veggies experiment, which tasked astronauts with the challenge of autonomous gardening in deep space. As part of the Veggie system, Lindgren activated rooted ‘pillows’ of Profusion 5 Color Mix zinnia seeds in November of 2015.
Kelly’s eye for gardening along with the (on Earth) Veggie team’s creation of the ‘Zinnia Care Guide for the On-Orbit Gardener’ resulted in the first bloom - reported shortly thereafter, on January 12th, 2016.
“Sakata Seed is proud to have an industry-proven series that is able to go from international success to intergalactic! The ability of Profusion to grow in the most extreme, unpredictable conditions is a true testament to the vigor and flower power of this amazing plant!” states Jamie Kitz, Key Account Sales Manager for Sakata.
However, the Sakata #SpaceFlower was not the only historic landmark for 2016. This year also marks the 10th birthday of Sakata’s innovative sun and shade-loving impatiens hybrid, SunPatiens. After ten years of research and development, SunPatiens® was commercially launched in 2006, and has grown to be recognized worldwide as one of the best performing flowering annuals in its category, especially in Japan, Europe, and North and South America. The first of its kind, SunPatiens proved to be the solution to issues such as impatiens only thriving in shade and susceptibility to downy mildew. What’s more, the SunPatiens collection continues to grow, providing more choice in habit, color and foliage than any other in its class.
A celebration of these achievements will be present at Sakata’s California Spring Trials display this April. “There are definitely more surprises to come this year, when it comes to SunPatiens. Our birthday celebrations will kick off at CAST, and we have a couple of exciting announcements and marketing initiatives that will come into play soon – be on the lookout for those, and come party with us in April!” exclaims Senior Marketing Manager, Alecia Troy.
In addition to the birthday celebration, Sakata will be debuting an array of new varieties that will hopefully make history in the future, as well. Some significant new varieties added to the collection this year include Majorette gerbera, Ping Pong gomphrena, Planet delphinium, Bloomingdale II ranunculus and new SunPatiens and cyclamen colors to choose from!
Read the full zinnia space story here.
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