Conifer grower Henk van Kempen has received an international award. An American association is so pleased with his contribution to the spread and discovery of new conifers that they sent a trophy to Son en Breugel.
“When people think of a conifer, they immediately think of such a big monster,” he begins. But according to the Brabant grower, there is much more than that. “I mainly specialize in small dwarf forms and rarities. That is why I am constantly looking for new varieties.”
How does that work? Van Kempen goes out every two years for an ‘expedition’, as he calls it. The plant expert then travels through Canada or the United States in search of abnormalities in this tree species. Van Kempen can also regularly be found in Scandinavia and Austria, for example. “But America really is the Valhalla.”
According to him, you can just come across new species there in nature. “Just drive around and see if you see an abnormality somewhere in a large tree. And by multiplying it again, you can get conifers like the ones you see here.”
As an example he uses a so-called Japanese parasol. It doesn’t look at all like a traditional conifer. “This one has thick, fleshy needles. And there are hundreds of other types: variegated forms, extreme dwarf forms or yellow variants.”
His nursery in Son en Breugel has about 23,000 different plants. Special requests for Henk’s trees come from all over the world. “That’s why I’m constantly looking for new varieties.”