THE USE OF HUNGARIAN WILD PLANTS IN THE ORNAMENTAL PLANT BREEDING

Seed production of outdoor ornamental plants has a tradition of more than hundred years in Hungary.
Formerly, varieties bred in foreign countries had been propagated here, but since some 50 years breeding is conducted in Hungary.
The first aim of breeding was to work out varieties tolerating Hungary’s continental climate better than the foreign ones.
On the other hand we wanted to breed varieties really novel on international field, to gain ground by exporting more valuable varieties.
The breeding work yielded such resoundingly original cultivars as the A.A.S. awarded dwarf Alcea group, the Alcea x Althaea hybrids, the resistant Limonium, the white flowered Cichorium and the drought resistant lawn grass species.
Breeding work continues with the same object.