René van Gaalen’s work focuses on 3 genera; Campanula, Delphinium and Phlox, and he has been responsible for bringing a whole host of new varieties to our gardens.

Campanula:

Campanula 'Mystery' and 'Mystery in Blue'

The very distinctive C. ‘Mystery’, is of course the plant that got René noticed by the gardening community. With its long, wispy petals it’s quite unlike anything else in the Campanula world and is a mutation of C. medium ‘Canterbury Bells’. Not content with the original pink variety, René went on to produce ‘Mystery in Blue’ , while ‘Mystery in White’ is still in the pipeline.

Ironically enough, after years of messing around with Campanulas René developed an allergy to the genus, so he now works in cooperation with Kieft Seeds in the north of Holland.

Phlox, Paniculata types:

One of René's first perennial introductions, P. ‘Popeye’ , was a mutation from the popular ‘Bright Eyes’ with more contrasting colouring.

Phlox 'Rubymine' and 'Silvermine'

The 'Mine' series:

Phlox‘Goldmine’, has two sisters,‘Silvermine’ and ‘Rubymine’, that together form a trio with exceptional leaf variegation.

'Silvermine’ has white flowers to crown the stems of gold-variegated foliage. ‘Rubymine’ is another descendant of ‘Bright Eyes’ and has a different flower form and leaf colouring from the other two. Its smaller pink-red flowers are held above cream-edged foliage with red tinges on the uppermost leaves.

Detail of the unique bract formations that feature on Phlox 'Empty Feelings' and Phlox 'Midnight Feelings'.

The 'Feelings' series:

The 'Feelings' series includes a number of different flower forms and colours. The one feature that links them together is the remarkably long period that the 'flowers' look good for.

The 'Feelings' series began life way back in 1993, with the discovery of ‘Empty Feelings’, which even René considered too radical for the market at the time. This variety produced no flowers, but persisted with branching plumes of needle-fine russet-beige bracts. Although the colour is somehwat unappealing in its own right, the point of 'Empty Feelings' is that it acts as an excellent compliment to brighter flowers in a mixed bouquet.

2004 saw the introduction of 'Midnight Feelings',  a mahogany-black variety with the same form.

‘Red Feelings’ differs from these first two by actually producing flowers, albeit tiny sterile ones hidden inside modified ruby-red petals. Once again though, these 'petals' take on a form previously unseen in Phlox.

The Darwin PlantSpotters varieties ‘Fancy Feelings’ and 'Natural Feelings’ are variations on this type. 

Delphinium:

 D. ‘Peacemaker’ is a long-awaited mutant of the classic Belladonna type ‘Völkerfrieden’. With paler blue flowers and a longer vase life, it has proved a valuable addition to the florists palette.