Maybe they will also be in your mother’s day bouquet this year: Aalsmeer lilacs. That is quite special, because the fragrant flowers should no longer bloom in May. Growers from Aalsmeer came up with a solution that gives mothers worldwide their local pride on Sunday.
Normally the first lilac bushes are harvested in October and the last ones bloom in May. “Last year we had already auctioned the last one in April, so we had nothing left in May,” says lilac grower Kees Kramer.
But that will be different this year, because the grower has devised a way to delay the flowering of the lilacs. Once he has taken the shrubs off the islands in the Westeinderplassen with boats, they don’t immediately go into the greenhouse.
“If the bud is still completely closed at the beginning of January, we put the bushes in the cold store and keep it very cold, so that they don’t grow,” he explains. “We always take a little bit out and then when they come to the greenhouse they will grow. We can then harvest them three weeks later.”
A lot of demand for
When the lilacs are ready, they go to the auction. This year also in the week of Mother’s Day and that is a smart move by the growers. “Then there is certainly extra demand for it. Not only from the Netherlands. Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries.”