Roses too expensive and scarce? Try paper roses

HIGHLAND BLOOMS The “cabbage rose” may be used as filler for flower arrangements this Valentine’s Day. It is grown by farmers in Atok town in Benguet province and used for various occasions, like weddings. —EV ESPIRITU

TAYUG, PANGASINAN—The rose, an enduring symbol of love for centuries and the most in-demand flower on Valentine’s Day, is finding challenge from a cheaper alternative—the lisianthus, more commonly known as paper roses.

“It looks better than the rose. It has a longer shelf life and it’s more attractive,” said Michael Caballes, president of the Allied Botanical Corp. (ABC), a plant breeder which has developed a sunflower maze in this town to draw tourists.

Paper roses are not yet popular and widely grown in the Philippines, but Caballes said his company was now promoting lisianthus among Benguet growers. The plants can grow in temperate areas like Baguio City and their flowers come in red, purple, yellow, white and blue.

Benguet province has been the country’s leading rose grower, posting a production of 1,379.30 metric tons, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Since last week, prices of roses have steadily gone up in Metro Manila, with some fetching P200 to P1,500 for every dozen.

Caballes said that aside from lisianthus, aster could be a substitute for chrysanthemum, which is popular among floral arrangers. Aster, he said, “is more beautiful, with different hues and shades of colors.”

“It’s not yet popular and we are also trying to encourage growers to consider producing it,” he said.

Caballes also proposed growing ornamental cabbages, which are bright red and purple in color and are common in vegetable gardens in Benguet, and the snapdragon, which is also a good filler for flower arrangements.

“Most of the flowers [which developers invest in] come from Baguio or Tagaytay and these do not survive for long in the lowlands. But here, we have already developed the heat-tolerant variety. You will not have a lot of issues in growing these because they are already acclimatized to the hot weather,” Caballes said.

“If you go to Dangwa (a flower shop strip in Manila), they sell sunflowers for P50 on normal days. It could be P100 a piece now because it’s Valentine’s Day,” Caballes said.

Nine sunflower plants can be grown in a one-square meter lot, A farmer can expect to earn P450 from the plants.

ABC built the country’s first sunflower maze in Barangay C. Lichauco here.

It will have a three-month-long open house here on Feb. 17, with more than 30 varieties of ornamental plants occupying a portion of a demonstration farm to show real estate developers and hobbyists that these are not hard to grow.

Lisianthus will be among the plants to be displayed in a flowers and salad festival at Benguet State University in La Trinidad town in Benguet on Feb. 20.