It is midwinter and most bulb fields are snow-covered or still under water. Nevertheless, this day has been declared National Tulip Day and the tulip season has started. There are 200,000 tulips on Museumplein in Amsterdam and DJ Hardwell will open the season. “Really a happening,” says florist Douwe Hoving from Dalfsen. “That really is the start of the season for the tulip industry.”
Hoving was inspired by the event in Amsterdam, which he brought to Dalen on a smaller scale. With about fifteen boxes of picking tulips on his doorstep, he draws attention to the tulip season. “They are not yet available in nature. In the greenhouses, the tulip is grown in mesh containers. That makes it mobile for the grower, but it also allowed us to take a few of those containers with tulips with us. We let people pick them themselves. “
Most flowers in bulb fields are mainly for growing new bulbs and therefore do not end up in the vase. There is a picking field at the tulip picking garden in Beilen, but like virtually all fields, it is still buried under white snow. “The beginning is there, somewhere underground. But there is little to see of flowers yet,” Ilse van der Gun confirms. Yet National Tulip Day is also special for growers. “Then it starts to get a little itchy, of course. The day itself doesn’t involve many extras, because this is where it has to happen for us and there isn’t much to see here yet. But it is a beautiful day, yes, nice!”
The bulbs normally go into the ground in October or November. This has been postponed for a month due to the wet autumn. “The longer it is in there, the more roots it has produced, the sturdier it is and the more that bulb can withstand. But that does not necessarily have to have consequences.”
Ilse van der Gun notices that interest in tulips is increasing. This season they have opened a space to provide workshops and explanations. She also plants different tulip varieties every year and notices that they receive a lot of attention. “You look at what appeals to people who come to pick. We have a double, the Sunlover. And a nice red serrated tulip, l’Amour, and there is a lot of everything else that was there last year.”
Those who prefer to pick the flowers from the open ground will have to wait a little longer. The tulips usually bloom in mid-April.