The finishing touches

An online store is actually just like a regular store, you walk through it every day to see if everything is still straight on the shelves, if the floor has been swept and if the display window still looks neat. Yet, somehow that happens less often with an online store than with a regular store, while it is often necessary. Every time I hoist the sail and take some time to quietly sail through our online store, I come across something that could be done differently, better or neater. This time I managed to surprise myself again by coming across a few articles in our own store that had no text, how could I have forgotten that. What am I going to do, first write the newsletter or first the descriptions. Quite a job, I also want to visit the Dahlia show gardens, they are looking beautiful now with the nice weather of the past week. No, first the newsletter but that is not possible, there are a lot of people walking through our store now and they see beautiful Tulips without text. You know what, we'll do it all at once, killing two mosquitoes with one stone.

Akebono Red

Every spring I come across something wonderful during my many searches for new flower bulbs for the Fluwel webshop. This year, the discovery of the red colour variant of Akebono was such a fantastic moment. Akebono is one of our most popular Tulips for the garden. And rightly so, because it is a top performer in the garden; large, healthy and extremely strong. When you come across a beautiful red colour variant, you jump for joy. And, to top it all off, this red Akebono does not show an ordinary red but a fantastically seductive bright red that you rarely come across in Tulips. The Akebono Red is an asset to the range of good Tulips for the garden. I came across her at the Van Klink nursery at De Stolpen and I immediately said when I saw her 'that one is for us Freek, as soon as you have bulbs available I would like to offer them in the Fluwel webshop. Freek enjoyed his internship with us during his education at the horticultural school, so he granted us the first sale of this beautiful Tulip wholeheartedly. Incredibly happy with it, thank you Freek. So, if you also want to be the first to have this beautiful seductive red Tulip in your garden... just do it, I bet you will fall in love with her too and she will be found in your shopping cart in even greater numbers next year.

wedding

What a beautiful soft colour and what a beautiful flower shape, they look like roses that appear in a cluster of two, three and four flowers on each stem. Behind the scenes we have been eagerly awaiting a worthy successor to the legendary Tulip Angelique for years. This Tulip Angelique has literally been the most valued double pink garden tulip for generations, but it now really looks like she will end up in the nursing home, the Hortus Bulborum in Limmen, in the not-too-distant future. The growth has stopped and she is becoming more difficult to grow now that more and more crop protection products are (rightly) banned. But luck smiles on us, Angelique is leaving the scene and her successor, De Mariage , is already eager to be planted in your garden. I would do it if I were you, she is more than worth a try.

Salmon Lalibela

Sorry, but sometimes I really wonder if those bulb growers are completely off the mark. Or they have never eaten fish, that's also possible of course. But to call such a fantastic Tulip 'Salmon'? Completely off the mark, where are the men in the white coats. They must have been colour blind I think. But don't they have a colleague, friend or acquaintance who can kindly point out to them that they have completely missed the mark by calling this Tulip Salmon Lalibela . The good news is; as wrong as the name is, the Tulip is that good. A real boss of a Tulip that knows how to set the garden on fire with its fiery colours. Purely selected for growth power and health and that is exactly how it behaves in your garden. A buffalo of a Tulip that knows how to bring drama, what a colour. A real Darwin hybrid Tulip; big, strong, healthy and colourful. I am not going to say that Tulips come back for several years, they do that very exceptionally when the growing conditions in your garden are optimal. But if you plant the Salmon Lalibela, there is a very big chance that you will see this vigorous Tulip again for a second and sometimes even a third year.


So, now quickly to the Dahlia gardens in De Zuid. I can write about that again by the way. Good idea for next week, I will do that. First to the Tulperij in Voorhout, that is where most of the varieties are. Almost all growers plant their entire assortment of Dahlias in the garden there to show to Tom, Dick and Harry. If you do not know this garden yet, just google 'De Tulperij Voorhout'. For the real Dahlia fans it is well worth the effort to go and have a look. Who knows, we might bump into each other.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek