Now I’m Really Sure

As I am writing this, I’m about halfway through my yearly visit to the UK. It’s a big roadtrip: Sunderland, Harrogate, Manchester, Bristol, Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland–and then back home through London. It’s one of my favorite trips of the year, as I get to visit dozens of good Daffodil Friends that I meet more and more of over the years. They are all just as fond of gardening as I am and we also share the same favorite flower. I probably don’t have to tell you which one that is… My beloved Daffodil. We can talk for hours and hours during one of these visits, and our sense of time leaves us almost instantly. After my first day in the UK I was already one day behind my schedule: Frankie had not yet finished talking. Everything always turns out not like you expected. Frankie Charlton admiring Chrysanthemums
But not to worry, I never tell people a specific date for when I’m around, only a broad estimate of my timing. I’ve learned from experience that this works best for everyone. Whenever I’m approaching my next friend, I’ll call them to let them know I’m in the neighborhood, and if it’s a good time. And then they say either yes or no. If it’s a no, I wait around doing something for myself in the area, or I visit someone else first and go back to them later. This also means that I only buy a one-way ticket–I’ll know what day I’ll make it back when I’ve gotten to see everyone.

This also means I never have to rush. That’s a good thing, because I strongly dislike being in a hurry. It never happened to me that there wasn’t a last-minute space on board of the ferry, and even if it would be full to capacity in some way, an extra dinner of Fish & Chips and another night in a hotel isn’t too bad either. There will always be another boat tomorrow!  "A gardener" in the lost gardens of Heligan

Being in a hurry isn’t great when you are doing such a long road trip, but I have to say that I am the same way when I go somewhere within The Netherlands. You leave your house and then there are two options: traffic jams or no traffic jams. Sometimes you can see it beforehand and decide to leave a few hours later to avoid it, but it also happens that stuff just happens on the road when you’re already there. Nothing you can do about that. But whenever you’re in the car by yourself for long stretches of time, it is easy to contemplate life. This time, I came to the conclusion that everyone I have seen during this road trip (so far) have been born way, way earlier than me, and I am 60 years of age at this point. I would not even know how many years they have on me, but I assume most of them have at least 15. About half of my English Daffodil friends are even over 20 years me senior, and there is also one that is some 30 years older than me.

That is Ken Haropp, a grower of pretty Chrysanthemums and even more beautiful Daffodils. He opened my eyes when it came to a certain subject I’ve been thinking about for most of my life now: Gardening is healthy. Ken took me to his little allotment garden, where he wanted to introduce me to a good friend of his. That friend also had Chrysanthemums, beautiful ones too. To get Chrysanthemums to look like that, you need to start at least 9 months ahead to select the best cuts and to pick out the best mother plants. You have to pay close attention as you’re doing that. This good friend had beautiful flowers at this very moment, but what he and Brian were talking about was all about next year: Which ones would you use, Ken? What kind of soil will you be using? Is this one good enough in your opinion? I obviously noticed that Ken’s friend was older than me, but when Ken told me that he had well over 20 years on me, I was still surprised. He looked amazing! Ken laughed at me and said: Well, you know the flowers keep us going!  So my hypothesis about the fantastic health benefits of gardening has found even more evidence. All the people I’m meeting are slowly approaching 90 years of age and they are still going strong, breathing in fresh air and going outside every day. When I look at all those gardeners, I see very little stress, and I get that too: every problem looks less intimidating when you’ve just spent half an hour outside. 

All these Daffodil friends have been telling me for years, but this really proved it to me. I’ve seen it with my own eyes yet again: gardening is healthy.

And you are lucky! Because at Fluwel, you can buy everything you need to start gardening yourself! 

Kind regards, 

Carlos

 p.s. On Friday we have opened the Amaryllis season, make sure to check out our assortment, the biggest we offered yet