September 2021 Newsletter

Pink Poinsettia’s!

Horticulture Technologists at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) are delighted to introduce readers to Princettia™.

Princettia™ is a dwarf variant of Poinsettia a popular Christmas plant. Princettia™ plants naturally colour in early winter, however Horticulture Technologists based at CAFRE’s, Greenmount Campus have grown a pink Princettia™ in the middle of autumn. In celebration the team are delighted to partner with Pretty ‘n’ Pink. Using evidence from scientific research the CAFRE Horticulture Technology team explore innovative technologies. They then introduce these to the Northern Ireland horticulture industry who can adopt these new and exciting technologies to further develop their businesses.

This latest project involved a day length manipulation technique resulting in Princettia™ plants developing their pink (bract) leaves in autumn. With a little help from CAFRE’s Floristry students who assisted with some pre-dispatch plant decorations, these novel plants are being sold to support Pretty ‘n’ Pink, Northern Irelands’ only registered breast cancer charity. These pink Princettias™ will be available from mid-October and will be sold through the Charity at their Information & Support Hub based at Park Centre, Belfast. There will be a limited number of these plants available. For further information on how to reserve or purchase these novel plants, email info@prettynpink.org.

CAFRE is Northern Ireland’s only agri-food and land based college. If you are interested in finding out more about studying at CAFRE and where it could lead you, please join our Virtual Open Events. Events will be live streamed from Discover CAFRE Facebook from Monday 4th to Thursday 8th October 2021. Details of dates and timings can be found on the CAFRE website www.cafre.ac.uk.