The Dream Team

And? What did you like most in the past few weeks that you helped? Yes, unfortunately the youth can no longer work, they have to go to school and then you ask something like that. Their answer: Friday at noon eating hamburgers and pancakes with Mirea and Linda at Land van Fluwel ! I didn't see that coming, I gave them all kinds of fun Daffodil jobs and then they come up with this answer. But yes, it's also fun. Every Friday at 12 o'clock I secretly sneak out the back door with my 'Dream Team' to eat vlie vla quickly at Land van Fluwel . That is easy because I work in my Daffodils all summer long in the back of the shed with a small team to take care of all the special Daffodil orders for the Candy Store, Qdaffs and about 10 other English specialist Daffodil traders. At the front of the shed they are working hard (a good 25 people) on the American orders and the Fluwel webshop . Three machines are there, popping bags and it looks black and yellow with bulb crates filled with bags of flower bulbs. Also beautiful and also cozy, all of us doing our utmost to pack a container of bulbs every day. (1 container is 21 pallets with 45 crates, so almost 1000 crates.) In our shed at the back, everything is done on a small scale. Variety by variety, we process the more than 1000 types of Daffodils , of which only 10 bulbs of some types have been sold. We had to process more than 1800 lines for all orders, but the job is almost done, thanks to the Dream Team. For the Candy Store and Qdaffs, we still have to count out a few types in bags and then we can start running the orders. Also fun. Unfortunately, the Dream Team will be back at school soon, so it looks like I will have to do the last chores on my own. That will work out, nothing is as much fun as working hard. By the way, I call it the Dream Team, because they do walk around dreaming all day, especially the first break in the morning. They can walk around like a pickle plant, but to be honest, when they are awake it goes pretty fast.


Cucumber plant

But enough about the shed, we're going outside. Now that the pressure is off, I can enjoy the Dahlias a bit more. At home, the Dahlia border at the sunbathing area looks beautiful. Neatly maintained by the same Dream Team that I threw out a few times when the work pace in the shed threatened to drop to a historic low. Quick, and now to weed the Dahlias ! And come back quickly. I did that myself sometimes, quietly or with an excuse out the back door to enjoy all the beauty of the Dahlias . Nice to see that there are often random passers-by enjoying the many flowers. For example, I met a very nice, colorfully dressed lady from Harderwijk there who talked a mile a minute about her beautiful Dahlias in her garden that she had ordered from us. Camera at hand, you know how it is, and she showed me dozens of photos of her Dahlias that she had ordered from us while scrolling through her neatly arranged albums. At the end she even turned on the live cam where, to her horror, she saw that nasty red tomcat from the neighbours pooping in her garden. “Yes, that animal always comes into my garden, he is actually right, because there are tiles everywhere in the gardens and a cat like that doesn't like them, my whole garden is green.” It is nice, by the way, that during a few days away to the coast you can still occasionally look at your garden via the live cam to enjoy the Dahlias .

By the way, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Burgervlotbrug any time soon, feel free to come and have a look at Belkmerweg 27. The hundred or so varieties of Dahlias from the Fluwel webshop are neatly lined up there, looking beautiful. We would love it if you would come and have a look.


What is also nice on that same Belkmerweg in Sint Maartenvlotbrug is the field with Begonias of the Fa. Kolken. Always nice to take a picture of such a colorful field of Begonias . On the Zeeweg towards Sint Maartenszee you will also come across such a field.


It is also funny to mention that sometimes, when we go home at around half past eight in the evening, we drive into the country with the car to get the gigantic colony of geese behind the barn moving. Hundreds of them sit around all day pooping on the land, hop, a quick flight and a noise they make when they take off. It is good for them, a quick flight before going to sleep. Angryly cackling they flutter into the air to land again a few seconds later on the land of Jan and Siem Hopman where they calmly continue doing nothing. The Hopmen can also enjoy this winged nature for a while.

Tulipa sylvestris

What else can I tell you? Perhaps once again the advice not to wait too long this year to order the Tulips for your garden. The stock is somewhat smaller because of the lesser harvest this year, so they will be sold out a bit sooner. About ten of them are already sold out. The other flower bulbs such as Daffodils and such are well in stock, but if you are a real Tulip lover, don't wait too long.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek

PS: My colleagues also post the most beautiful pictures on Facebook and Instagram, fun to follow.