A new year

Great, the sun is rising again this year and this year I have to write a good 50 newsletters and I already don't know what I'm going to talk about this time. Look, we all know that my newsletters can be a bit more serious, not too much crazy talk, that's okay too. So what are we going to talk about... no idea. Yes, the entire arsenal of flower bulbs that can be planted in the spring is available again in our webshop. That's news and sales are going like crazy, against all expectations. I should probably explain a bit about the fact that it's against all expectations, it just surprises me that so many customers order on day 1 when the bulbs become available. Very sweet of course, thanks for that, but I'm surprised about that. Incidentally, it is still the case that most people order flower bulbs when it's time to plant them, but the trend seems to be that more and more gardeners want their wish lists filled in well in advance. Actually, we could roughly divide all our customers in two, but of course we're not going to do that because that would create a huge mess and you wouldn't have any customers left.

New in our range Dahlia High Fidelity

In the meantime, still no subject to write about. The weather perhaps, yes nice, it is still raining, it does not stop. I would be surprised if all the flower bulbs would emerge fresh and cheerful in March. Now I am starting to sound like an old man but fortunately I still speak to older men and I can tell you, it has never been this wet. We will know more in a few months, who knows, it may not be so bad. A small bright spot is that the 14-day weather forecast from AgriHolland predicts a few dry weeks. I still find it hard to believe, we have seen more of those promises last autumn that turned out to be nothing. It was actually a bit like that sign on the wall at our pub owner's that reads in elegant calligraphic letters; "Free Beer Tomorrow". If you then come the next day with a happy nose and thirsty throat to ask for a free beer, you get the grinning answer 'can't you read mate, it says tomorrow'. It was like that in the fall too, a little bit, two bits, with the rain; tomorrow it will be better.

Dahlia Princess Nadine

That just occurred to me, I could give that as an answer to the people who ask for free shipping; unfortunately we don't do free shipping but in our village they will be tapping free beer tomorrow. Too simplistic of course, you are not allowed to give such answers but perhaps, for the many new customers, a short explanation of our shipping costs policy. The shipping costs for us are a good 10% of the sales value in the Fluwel webshop. You could easily incorporate this 10% into the bulb prices and thus tickle the consumer, and they like that, with free shipping. As clear as day but as soon as an order comes in from aunt Agaath from Klazinaveen and an order from Friederike Nieminen from Helsinki, the organ starts to play out of tune. Shipping costs to Finland are many times higher than an address in the Netherlands. The 10% is completely wrong here.

We have never added the 10% shipping costs to the bulbs and you can see that in our prices, which are very reasonable. What we do is, in the event that you buy a lot of flower bulbs from us, and they do not fit in 1 box, we will pay the shipping costs of the second box. We are still tickling you a little, well, only if you order a lot of course. We can't tickle everyone, that would be too crazy. In any case, it comes down to the fact that we want everyone to pay the same amount for the actual bulbs, because that feels fairest to me, that is our product, plus the costs for the distance the bulbs have to travel to reach you.

Amaryllis the most beautiful houseplant for the winter months,

this is the Beautiful Emotion

Enough serious talk, now for something serious. I have already told you that I am happily participating in a 128-year gardening course. My grandmother's grandmother was just unable to complete the course, but I am determined to complete it. But now that so much water has fallen, which may cause some problems here and there in the garden, I thought it might be wise for me to enroll in a course that teaches you how to deal with disappointments and setbacks. Unfortunately, yesterday I received the message that the course on dealing with disappointments will once again not be going ahead.

Delicious… the Citron Bean

Speaking of disappointments, the bean sale is one. We (Pien and I) thought we would sell a few hundred kilos of beans with our beautiful Christmas story, not even half of half. Perhaps the timing was not right, the day before Christmas… or perhaps I should have mentioned that you can also sow them in the vegetable garden in the spring, the germination rate is fine. The Grey Pea started to root after three days. But anyway dear people, just try it once; eating Grey Peas, they are really tasty.

What else, during the quiet hours in the past weeks I have tried to sort out the photo file on my computer. I have seen thousands of photos, including those from my phone. I came across this one, taken at a Trade Fair in Aalsmeer at the stand of the Flower Council of Holland. In case you are wondering where all those new lilies come from:

Now don't immediately think that if you buy Lily bulbs from us we will deliver them to you in this way, but of course it is a beautiful photo. In the same stand at the Trade Fair there was another fantastic piece of art with Lily flowers to see:

How easy it can be to make something beautiful. By the way, there is one of the new Lilies in our assortment that I would like to bring to your attention, the Exotic Sun.

Lilium Exotic Sun is a uniquely colored double flowered OT Lily. OT stands for Oriental x Trumpet and this type of Lilies has many of the good garden qualities of the Trumpet Lilies. Definitely worth trying in the garden, you will really enjoy it.

There, I have to stop again, the counter is at 1000 words.

Kind regards and see you next week,

Carlos van der Veek