Rose country Ecuador also has growers who produce something other than these familiar big, beautiful flowers. Flores de Tumbabiro, a grower of lisianthus, among other products, is a bit of an oddity there. While the US is its main market, General Manager Pablo Ponce is hoping the energy crisis will allow him to market his lisianthuses in Europe as well.
Ponce says that last October's Expoflor flower fair in Quito was his busiest ever, in part because the energy crisis led to a growing interest in his lisianthuses. The grower is seeing shifts in market demand, and there is a drop in production in the Netherlands, where the cultivation of lisianthuses requires a lot of energy – power and heat.
Ponce's company is located in the mountains north of the capital of Quito. It specialises in the production and marketing of summer flowers. Unlike many of his colleagues, Ponce has an agricultural background.
