Big news

Before I reveal the big news, I would like to first return to the last news blog. In it, I made you all excited for a fantastic new ornamental onion that bears the cool name Chicago, while it was not even in the Fluwel webshop. Top-shelf crap, sorry.

I already told you, my head was full of Peonies (still is) but of course there could have been an outing. Great news for the enthusiasts, she is now in our shop. Allium Chicago

But that is not the good news I wanted to tell you, that news is much bigger: Vlad has moved and can now be found at our office every day. Vlad has been working for us for a year and some of you may have already been in contact with him, but until now Vlad has always worked from Berlin. He has exchanged that overgrown town with its modern 'zeitgeist' for the rustic coastal town of Petten. Beach, dunes, fresh air and there is no 'zeitgeist' haunting anywhere in Petten. Commuting to work every morning by bike. There may be people who are hearing about Vlad for the first time, so it would be wise to tell you a bit more about him. Vlad and I have known each other for years, perhaps even from the first year that we started the Fluwel webshop. As a loyal customer, Vlad quickly contacted us because he wanted to know more, much more, no, not really; a whole lot more about flower bulbs. He also came to visit, wanted to see our Daffodil nursery and the Fluwel trial garden, he actually wanted to see everything and look everywhere where a bulb was growing and blooming. There were visits when I picked Vlad up from the train early in the morning and we watched the sun set in the evening while we were still passionately discussing the Daffodils. It just never ends, Vlad wanted to know everything I knew and in turn wanted to know everything Vlad knew. Unbelievable, I have rarely met someone who is so interested in flower bulbs. And then to think that Vlad grew up in Moldova, a country where flower bulbs are not really part of the daily diet. At a young age, Vlad moved to Berlin, started there as an IT employee at Hello Fresh, where he later became more of a manager and had to try to keep all those IT frogs in the wheelbarrow. A little over a year ago, he called me out of the blue at around 11 in the morning; Carlos, I am standing here on the doorstep at Hello Fresh, I have just resigned, I want to work in flower bulbs and I would like to work for you if possible. Really, are you sure Vlad? Yes! Okay, come on. End of job interview. And now Vlad lives in Petten and if you call Fluwel, you might just get Vlad on the line. Enough about Vlad, quickly back to the Peonies, it is coming to an end but there are still a few blooming. The photo above is in the barn at one of the growers, he has put a vase of all his varieties to show his customers. Peony plant growers often sell the flowers in the spring. Here the grower shows the flower shop how his varieties are delivered as cut flowers. They are not yet in bloom but are already beautiful. Vlad and I are still working hard on a Velvet Peony assortment, here we are taking a closer look at the Peony White Cap. Just a little more patience and you can order them from us. Peony White Cap

What I also can't forget to mention around this time are the Dutch Lily Days. Lily traders open their homes to show their products. Growers of Lily flowers from all over the world come to the Netherlands this week to see if there is anything new under the sun.

By far the most Lily growers grow bulbs for traders who then sell them on to growers of Lily flowers. Fortunately, there is a grower who also focuses on the Lily as a garden plant. It makes quite a difference whether a Lily is raised in the protected environment of a greenhouse or whether it has to bloom well outside, under the influence of weather and wind. Garden lilies are generally much stronger and less sensitive to disease and pain than the types that are produced for greenhouse plants. LilyCompany in Andijk grows many Lilies for the garden and that is also where most of the Lilies that we offer in the Fluwel webshop come from. Of course we had a look with Vlad to see if there was anything nice among them. The choice was huge again, what a pleasure to walk around there. Time to stop, I will continue with the texts for the Peonies.

Kind regards,

Carlos