INSIGHT / 08
GOING FOR
GOLD With Irish eyes turning to Tokyo for the Olympics this summer Pat Fitzgerald discusses his winning mix in Japan with Dónall Flanagan of Teagasc
IRISH WASABI PRODUCTION ON FITZGERALDS NURSERIES IN KILKENNY
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ost of us will be well familiar with FitzGerald Nurseries. Pat Fitzgerald has developed a Japanese Carex into a globally recognised plant and branded under the EverColor trademark on 4 continents, selling in garden centres worldwide. In conversation with Dónall Flanagan, Pat described his journey from Stoneyford in Co. Kilkenny to Utogi in the mountains of Japan. This story began in 1989 when, before setting up the nursery, Pat acquired some Japanese sedges – Carex oshimensis Evergold, as a birthday present from his wife Noirín. This variety had been sold by Duncan and Davis in New Zealand and was not under breeders rights protection. Carex oshimensis is native to Oshima island in Japan. It is an evergreen, mound forming sedge with strong resilience
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to cold and drought conditions. Pat began breeding work with the Carex in Stoneyford and in the lab in Enniscorthy. The lab is FitzGerald Nurseries and sister company Beotanics micropropagation R&D and production laboratory where new plants are multiplied in vitro as well as undertaking breeding and selection programmes there. Having taken charge of the lab in 2005, by 2008 there were a number of promising lines being mass produced. When the plants were launched at the international trade fair for plants (IPM) Essen in 2008 they caused a bit of a stir. Carex has a niche trailing characteristic in containerised plant displays that require plants that have “thriller, filler and spiller” characteristics. The Carex Evercolor range was launched and was immediately spotted by a Japanese plant breeder agent Satoki Matsui of Plant Network. Pat was
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Summer 2021
JAPANESE PLANT BREEDER AND AGENT SITOKI MATSUI ISPECTS IRISH PRODUCED WASABI
invited to visit Japan by Mr Matsui in 2010. This was Pat’s first of more than six visits. He commented, “Japan is my favourite place to visit and my favourite in terms of diversity of plant based foods. There is such a strong emphasis on quality of produce and respect for the small artisan producer.” It was on one of these early visits that Pat became aware of the cultural importance of the Wasabi plant. The vegetable is prepared for sale by hand by the farmer and their families, and treated with the same high regard as a special fruit. Soon Matsui was arranging for Pat to visit plant breeders and growers including wasabi breeders. Pat recalled, “we would make two visits a day, and they would take the whole day. There is a strict but respectfully friendly protocol and ritual in making the visits and there was great respect shown to us for taking time to visit because of
