Salute to Idaho Agriculture: The Firefly Petunia

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — It’s not every day that a new species of flower is created, but that’s exactly what happened with the Firefly Petunia. And now, Moss Greenhouse in Jerome is set to be one of two greenhouses in the entire United States selling the plant.

The owner of Moss Greenhouse, Jennifer Moss, talks about how they received this opportunity.

“My uncle, who owns a garden center in Ketchum, got ahold of me and said, hey do you want to meet this breeder, he has a glow-in-the-dark petunia, and I was like glow-in-the-what? So, we met in November and of course, you go into something like that skeptical, but once we got our hands on it, we started to test it and play with it and it really does illuminate your space,” Moss said.

Creating this flower was a process that required a lot of understanding of genes by the breeder, who used some interesting science to finish off and perfect the creation of the Firefly Petunia.

“He {the breeder} has taken the bioluminescence from the fungus family and he has spliced it into this petunia gene. Taking an ordinary white petunia and making it a completely new unique plant,” Moss said.

This flower is so unique in fact that some people in the horticulture industry will be flying in from out of state just to see the plant for the very first time.

“There’s never been something like this in the industry. Several of our brokers and breeders have been calling us up saying hey, how do we get these plants, and I’m just like you can’t. The industry hasn’t even seen this, that’s the crazy part. It does get unveiled in July at the big show, but we’re just extremely grateful to be selected to be a part of literally changing horticulture,” Moss said.

If you would like to get your hands on a Firefly Petunia you can head out to the unveiling party hosted by Moss’ on Friday night, but if not, they will be on sale starting in June at the greenhouse in either a four-or six-inch variety and both retail for $30.

Copyright 2024 KMVT. All rights reserved.