Vincenzo Babini

Vincenzo is a constant presence at our events, in which he participates together with his friend Enzo Teodonno (Vivaio Autore Nursery) to spread his famous ‘ Tricho hybrids’, columnar cacti of South American origin (genus Trichocereus) that in their botanical forms are famous for their flowers, which are as large as they are ephemeral (they last only one night), characters that, combined with the ease of their cultivation, have encouraged intense hybridization by numerous growers in all corners of the world to prolong their blooms and enrich them with color.

An expert in the genetic improvement of fruit plants, many years ago Vincenzo began collecting some famous hybrids and then crossing them with each other and with pure species in a long journey that has resulted in hundreds (thousands) of new hybrid lines.

Today, in his hands the DNA of these plants has been recombined in unexpected ways, generating a color palette that greatly exceeds the imaginable. Pastel shades mix with fluorescent hues, with tones now vivid now diaphanous, from the fullness of carmine to the warm tones of burnt copper, in a wide range of different corolla shapes whose petals are now sharp, now delicately jagged.

More like an ancient alchemist than an expert in Vincenzo crossbreeding. Guided by the rainbow hues of these flowers he implements genetic manipulation in a completely empirical way, as if he were a modern-day Caravaggio, Tintoretto, or Velasquez botanist.