Last call for the candy store

Yes, the Daffodil harvesting season has started again. Actually I wanted to start a day earlier, last Wednesday, but after I had answered my emails and looked at the rain radar I saw this:

Yep, that red dot there I am sitting behind my computer, right in the eye of the storm. It was dead still outside, the mill stood still, the leaves did not rustle, you did not hear a bird whistling. It was all strange. Just look for a wind map.


A beautiful pink butterfly glasses of which the right eye (for the viewers left) had a wind force of 142 km per hour. You know what, I'll start digging a day later. Of course I quickly went outside to check if the greenhouse was closed properly and there were no other things that could sustain wind damage. Fortunately, that all went well, unfortunately not everywhere. A good hour later you could see trees falling over on the TV. Holiday fun was spoiled, because the tent was suddenly hanging in the bushes, vans showed the bottom of their wheels and pieces of beach houses were on the wrong side of the dunes.


After rain comes sunshine, the next day nice start with digging. First the Hyacinths . Yes, I also grow a Hyacinth , a very special one that nobody has and that is very beautiful; the Gloria Mundi.


She is as old as the road to Kralingen, but more beautiful than the most beautiful song ever played on a flute. What a beauty.


The Gloria Mundi has grown well again, next year you can order her from us. The nice thing about this Hyacinth is that she, like a Narcissus, gives very good young bulbs, which makes her easy to grow.

Narcissus Dainty Monique

The first Daffodils for the candy store have also been dug up and that is what this newsletter is about. A month ago I already told you about the Candy Store on our website, but I forgot to tell you that the Candy Store will close as soon as we start dug up the Daffodils . Yes, that is early, I know, but I will tell you why.

Narcissus Avalanche of Gold

As soon as the Narcissi are 'wind-dry and root-dry', as the bulb farmers call it, they come into the shed and I start processing all those hundreds of varieties. At that moment I take out what has been sold and I immediately prepare the remaining bulbs for planting. This planting material is put away on large piles and after a week the variety in question can no longer be found between all those bags on the many piles.

Narcissus bulbocodium Casual Elegance

I get almost a thousand varieties through my fingers in a few weeks, all small batches that are specially grown for the Candy Shop or are still under construction. You can imagine that it is impossible to keep a number of bulbs of all these varieties in stock in the hope that someone will come forward at a later time who wants to buy a few bulbs.


Narcissus Tazetta pachybolbus

As long as I grow these special Narcissi for my English friends I have always said; as soon as the Tour de France starts, sales stop. I gladly deliver bulbs from the collection to the enthusiast, but once the bulbs have been processed it is almost impossible for me to find them again in all those piles of plant material.


Narcissus Pompiere

The Tour de France always starts the first weekend of July, around that time we also start harvesting the miniature Daffodils. All day truffle (that's what that old iron barrel you see in the pictures is called 'truffle'), lugging boxes, screens and sweating to then around the clock of I don't feel like looking at the finish of the Tour with French cheese, Spanish wine and feet on the table.


Narcissus High Society

As soon as there is no field work, or it rains one day too hard, we start cleaning, sorting and counting the sold bulbs and yes, then I want to know what has been sold. This year it is a bit later and I forgot to mention it clearly, so we are adding two more weeks. This year we will close on July 16 with the candy store. But think about it for next years: Tour de France opens, candy store closes.


You're probably thinking 'oh how sad, poor Carlos is lying on his own in the field for days'. It's not that bad, all sorts of things are happening. Next to me a large field of Zantedeschias is being weeded and yes, even a big spectacle, the car from the flower bulb trial garden 'Vertify' is stuck. Vertify is a research institute that conducts research into the results of new storage and treatment methods in all flower bulb regions. They also always plant a large field with hundreds of flowering and growth trials next to our Daffodils .


And what are you doing in our way when you have problems, exactly, call Hoogland, they are always ready for you. Biggest tractor in the stable and for the good man, who thought he could drive over the soft sand with his much too big hanger, was very worried, the cable was already around his bumper and the monster started moving again.

I'm going to stop again for this week and pick out a few more Daffodils for you.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek