This week we check in with Queen of Greens to find out what is hot in our West Coast Evergreen Division. I sat down with Debbie Hartman to talk about an extremely popular botanical. It goes by a lot of aliases; Scouring Rush, Snake Grass, Puzzlegrass, Bottle Brush, Paddock Pipes and my personal favorite Dutch Rush, which sounds like a new espresso drink at Starbucks.
What is this botanical? Its’ scientific name is Equisetum Hyemale and the most common name is Horsetail, although when you need to order please call Debbie and say, “Give me the Dutch Rush!” This plant has the distinction of being one of the oldest plants on earth. Equisetum (equis meaning horse and seta meaning bristle)is the single surviving genus of a class of vascular plants that date back to the mid-Devonian period, about 350 million years ago… and just think, you can buy it in 10 stem bunches.
Horsetails are a very popular floral design element, both as a linear in arrangements, and as a bendable line material which can be manipulated into abstract shapes. Interestingly, Horsetails didn’t rise to their current popularity until recently; Debbie has seen demand for Horsetails grow dramatically in the last 3 to 4 years. Our Horsetails are graded to 42-44 inches tall, we also offer Ponytails which are the same plant, only graded to 25-27 inches. These are extremely popular for bouquet designers, notably in our popular Fields Collection.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk
