Imbali now selling to Event Organisers

Imbali Cut Flowers is situated on 12 hectares bordering the Rietvlei Nature Reserve between Pretoria and Kempton Park, 20 minutes from OR Tambo international airport.

Marcus Henkel is an architect. In 1988 he quit his architectural practice and started farming on the property which was in the family since 1968. After researching various options like chickens and pigs, which the experts strongly advised against, he decided on cut flowers thanks to the encouragement from acquaintances in the flower industry. Marcus’s wife, June, joined him in this venture. After some research it was decided to grow Gypsophilla which at the time was getting good prices and was relatively cheap to establish. The first two greenhouses of 1800 m2 were welded up by him singlehandedly at his house in Pretoria. The first plants, imported from Israel, were planted in July 1988 and the first crop was harvested in November 1988. The profits were used to expand the business, which now comprises 7 greenhouses totalling 2 hectares. In 2001 it was decided to change the crop to Gerberas. The input costs are much higher than Gyp but at the time the returns were good. In 2013 Marcus’s daughter, Tania, joined the business which has lead to further improvements in quality and production.

From the beginning Imbali Cut Flowers has achieved the top prices on the Multiflora flower market in City Deep in Johannesburg. The flowers are distributed all over South Africa.

Our goal is to supply flowers of the best quality to the consumer. This is achieved by meticulous attention to the entire process from the plants to the consumer.

We import the best possible quality tissue culture plants from top breeders in Holland. These tiny plants are rooted in a specialised facility before being planted into pots in the computer controlled greenhouses. The varieties we grow have been chosen with trial and error over the years and have proven themselves in our conditions.