Don’t Panic!

Tulipa White Emperor must feel sorry for being as early as she was this year.

This morning, the phone at Fluwel was bombarded by worried customers, calling if their beloved flower bulbs would still start to grow now that they had been covered by the Springtime snow.

A very understandable question, but… don’t panic!

Flower bulbs that naturally grow early in the year are very good at handling a bit of bad weather-circumstances. Their roots often lie in countries that get a lot of cold weather, so they were made to handle it.

Take, for example, the Crocus. The grandparents of the crocus come from the mountains, where they can be found just below the areas that are always covered in snow. To find the ancestors of the Crocus we use today, you would need to get pretty far up into the mountains.

Crocus vernus in the Alps

If you’re lucky you may be able to find a few. They are usually in the place where the snow starts to melt, so there is a cold wind, and temperatures below zero degrees Celsius at night, but the Crocuses are not bothered by that. If you know about their background, you probably understand why I am not too worried about my Crocuses surviving a bit of snow in my own garden.

The most fun about this is that the Crocuses in this area tend to be in bloom for months at a time. This is not because they are in better shape in the occasional cold weather, but because they are always near snow. They start off in March, when the snow disappears at the bottom of the mountain and the first crocuses come up in the freshly exposed soil. And they are still blooming in May, not at the bottom of the mountain, but much higher up, at the place where the higher snow has just melted.

Narcissus bulbocodium in Spain

The Daffodil is another type of flower that can grow in places where growers would never voluntarily plant them. I’ve seen them in places where I myself was sorry I didn’t wear an extra layer of thermal clothing that day, but the Daffodils? They were completely unbothered.

Daffodils growing beside the road near our house. I’ll send you another picture of them next week, where you will be able to see that they have recovered well and are standing tall again.

I just wanted to say that all spring-blooming flower bulbs come from areas that have a lot more range in the weather than our climate over here has. The transition from winter to spring is much larger over there than it is in The Netherlands, so the flower bulbs that originate in those areas have no problem resisting the weather. Even the Hyacinth, a flower bulb that actually can freeze over during a harsh winter, can handle a couple of nights of frost and snow.

The Fluwel show garden

We also get a lot of questions about out show garden, and when it will be in bloom again. Looking at the 14-day weather expectations, I think it is going to be a normal spring. The second half of April and the first week of May will be the best time to look at the Dutch flower fields, so I expect that that will also be the best time for our own show garden.

You can find our show garden next to the Fluwel warehouse at Belkmerweg 20A in Burgervlotbrug.

Land van Fluwel

If you are going to take a tour around North Holland to see the flowers this spring, then be sure to stop by our theme park Land van Fluwel for a cup of coffee! Land van Fluwel is open again after a year of not being sure if we could be due to the pandemic, so this year, there is even more reason to spend the day outside at our park. The little restaurant attached to the park is also the perfect place to stop for lunch if you are spending the day looking at the flower bulbs.

Daffodil Texel Sun

I am going to go back outside now, because whatever the weather may be, we have work to do in Daffodil-land. Later today, a grower from Texel will come to visit. He grows Daffodil Texas Sun, and he may be interested to grow different varieties as well.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek

Begonia On Top Pink Halo

And, before I forget: there are Zantedeschia’s, Dahlias, and other summer-blooming flower bulbs waiting for a loving home in our web shop, so be sure to have a look if there is still room in your garden!