Bulbs, bulbs and more bulbs

‘Do you want to write the newsletter?’ I ask Pleun this early morning on her empty stomach. ‘Do I have to?’ And I could tell from her face that she didn’t really feel like it. Come on, just a short story about your current work in the warehouse and what you have done until now, Peppered with Zaanse humor. Pleun her boyfriend Natan is from the Zaan region, a port area a little North of Amsterdam. This is Natan’s first year helping us out with the daffodils, he is live following the very particle course ‘Bulbs for Beginners’. He is regularly observering, full amazement how we are getting around in the many daffodil bulbs. That is why I mentioned the Zaanse humor, Natan’s got it.

But whatever I tried, I could not convince Pleun to write the newsletter. Then you have to do my job togheter with Karel, I said to her. Fine, no problem. And that’s how I am now sitting peacefully in my greenhouse, accompanied by my tomatoes (In winter this greenhouse is filled with daffodils)...

... writing my newsletter, while the warehouse is working full speed. It is a bit odd to be honest, my first time being away from warehouse while the bulbs from our nursery are being prepped for our English daffodil customers. But don’t panic, they can do it for sure, they have helping for years after all.

From many of the daffodil bulbs that we send to England, the flowers end up in flower shows such as pictured above.

Meanwhile I am gladly sitting here, doing what I love most, but for which I never really take the time: writing.

You are probably wondering if we shouldn’t be prepping the bulbs for the Fluwel webshop right now. No you will have to wait your turn. We have a couple of customers in England with their own webshop, we will send them their bulbs first. When that is done we will be doing our best for you.

From a commercial point of view, it is not very smart to point you, a reader of our newsletter, to other webshops than the Fluwel webshop, but I am doing it anyway. After all, if you buy from one of our English customers, chances are high that those bulbs came from our nursery anyway. We supply bulbs to the following English customers:
Frankie Charlton: www.miniaturebulbs.co.uk
Arian Scamp: www.qualitydaffodils.com
John Shipton: www.shiptonbulbs.co.uk
John Amand: www.jacquesamandintl.com
Avon Bulbs: www.avonbulbs.co.uk
Rob Potterton: www.pottertons.co.uk
Imogen Long: www.riversidebulbs.co.uk
Jules & Dave Hardy: www.eskerfarmdaffodils.com

For the real daffodil lovers, Choice Bulbs, Quality Daffodils and Esker Farm Daffodils are true candyshops. Here you can find the newest of the newest and the pretties of the prettiest daffodils. Adrian Scamp and Jules & Dave Hardy also have their own nursery in addition to the bulbs they buy from Fluwel.
Franky Charlton on the other, lets all his daffodils be nursed by us. Frankie collects and trades daffodils from and with enthusiasts all over the world. As soon as he gets his hands on two bulbs of a new variety, he will send me one to grow it form him. When the variety has become large enough, I offer them to Franke so he can offer them in his web shop.

But most of the bulbs that go through our warehouse go to a few big web shops in America. Over 30 years ago, oh dear, does that make me sound old, I started shipping bulbs to America. Long before I had the Fluwel web shop, web shops didn’t even exist yet, my American friend and daffodil enthusiast asked me if I could buy, prepare and ship some daffodils and other flower bulbs for him. I enjoyed that and I kept doing it. Through the years I got another customer. And another one. That is how I happened to become a real flower bulb exporter.

To this day we have 5 loyal customers in America for who I buy, prepare and ship nearly all their bulbs:

www.whiteflowerfarm.com A well-stocked web shop, their daffodils and amaryllises are what makes them stand out. They don’t dare to say it themselves, but I think that when it comes to amaryllises, they have one of the most interesting and beautiful web shops in the world.
www.colorblends.com The inventor and specialist in creating breath takingly beautiful mixtures and combinations of flower bulbs.
www.oldhousegardens.com A web shop specialized in bulbs and plants of former times.
www.rareseeds.com Also known as Baker Creek. A company which offers the most special and peculiar flower bulbs and plant to its customers.
www.qdaffs.us A candy shop for the American daffodil lover.

Kind regards,
Carlos van der Veek