There are not very much news and very special hybrids of flowers in Italy. To have something very interesting and beautiful, you have to order it abroad. I cannot find petunia pendula here, for example, these hybrids do not exist for Italians. WHY??? I ask seed's vendors. Because there is not request.
We had an anecdote about it in SU. Caviar was very rare and expensive food at that time. It existed only for "special persons", not for everybody. And maybe for this reason everybody wanted to have it on the table at least for the feasts. So, the anecdote was this:
One man enters a shop and asks a salesperson: why do you never have black caviar in your shop? Becase there is not request, answers the salesperson.
I enter the shop near our house (only about 1 km far, under the hill): Do you have Asiago (it's a sort of Italian cheese that I like when it's fresh). -No. I never buy it because there is nor request. People in this zone do not buy Asiago. They buy only 2 sorts of cheese -Mozzarella and Parmiggiano.
Point here.
That is why I was surprized to see this new for me plant. Protea Cinaroides. Sincerely i was not impressed by this plant. But it was interesting to know it.