“As the demand of people for flowers is on the constant rise, our institute pays attention to a project for acclimatizing the world’s rare flowers,” said Pang Hyon Im, section chief of the Pyongyang Floriculture Institute.

The institute, equipped with up-to-date research conditions, regards the project as an important item in its work.

Its ornamental flower lab acclimatized more than 10 species of rare flowers in recent years.

As they have beautiful blossoms and long flowering periods, Phalaenopsis aphrodite and anthurium are widely recognized as rare flowers worldwide.

Researchers succeeded in acclimatizing Phalaenopsis aphrodite and anthurium which grow well in warm climatic conditions to the climate of Korea before ascertaining afresh substrate, cultivation process and environment and nutrition management.

The former produces more than 10 butterfly-shaped blossoms on a scores-of-centimetre-long stalk and the flowers are diverse in colour including white, yellow, pink and mottled colour. Its blossoms have a flowering period of two to three months. If you cut the original stalk when the blossoms are about to fall, another stalk will grow to bear fresh blossoms.

The latter produces a flower with heart-shaped red petals and yellow stamens. It is very fascinating as its petals and stamens make a contrast with each other in colour. As it remains in bloom for over a month and flowers appear in siccession, you can enjoy the flower all the year round.

The researchers got substrates and fertilizers for the flowers from low-cost and locally-available materials and put the method of watering them, a major part in cultivation, on a scientific basis according to seasons.

The lab also acclimatized unusual cacti with unique shapes.

Some of them including Opuntia microdasys, Echinopsis oxygona, Gymnocalycium mihanovichii and Notocactus scopa have been registered as national varieties.

The researchers bred a coloured cactus using triangular cereun as the stock and yellow- and red-coloured cacti as scions and various other cacti including Mammillaria prolifera that looks like sprinkled with emeralds, ball-shaped Echinocactus grusonii with a golden thorny wear and squirrel-shaped cactus. The varieties are growing freshly and get more distinctive in shape and colour.

“We have still lots of problems to solve in research including the selection of substrates suitable to different cacti, proper grafting periods and stocks and scions and the development of the method of disinfecting stocks and scions. We have already completed such projects for 13 varieties of rare cacti over the past two years,” said researcher Ri Myong Son.