Despite the high energy prices, grower Jac van Dongen still opens the doors of his annual plant hotel. “From early November to mid-April, people can overwinter their container plants here in our greenhouses. Many plant lovers thought it was no longer possible because of the high energy prices, but you also have to give something back to your customers. The winter visitors are therefore welcome again.”
No colorful summer plants and bedding plants in the coming months in the greenhouses of Jac van Dongen of the Dongeneind nursery in Oosteind, but container plants that are all vulnerable and need extra care in the winter. “In our plant hotel, plants that you used to see in the orangeries of the large country estates overwinter,” says the grower. “A few regulars are olive trees, citrus plants, the brugmansia and huge standard fuchsias. All plants that hate the combination of moisture, cold and frost.”
“It’s a five-star hotel here with cold and hot running water.”
“We help the vulnerable container plants through the winter here in the winter months, they are cared for here and there, and they are also pruned a bit here and there, and most importantly, they overwinter frost-free,” says Van Dongen. “It’s a five-star hotel here with cold and hot running water.” Despite the increased energy prices, the grower is sticking to the price of 70 euros per pallet for a group of winter visitors. “A pallet like this fits between four and six plants. If a container plant does not survive the winter, then of course you don’t have to pay for it.”
Despite the fact that there are more growers who help their customers with the hibernation of vulnerable container plants in their greenhouses, it is not the case that all growers are thrilled. “Many growers are also concerned that bringing in the overwinterers will also bring diseases into your company,” says Van Dongen. “These plants have been outside all summer and you don’t know what could be in them. There is a risk involved.”
“It’s going well until that one spicy night frost comes.”
What the grower-cum-hotelier does notice is that owners of container plants bring their overwintering plants later than usual. “Then it will be the end of December, the beginning of January and then it hasn’t frozen yet and they think it will be fine. Well, no: it’s going well until that one spicy night frost comes and then your precious and vulnerable container plant is done.”
The plant hotel, which has now been in existence for about ten years, was created because people bought container plants from Van Dongen and then wondered what to do with them in the winter. “Then you bring it back, was my answer. Then we’ll take care of them”, says the passionate grower who also wants to give something back to his customers with his plant hotel. “Another tip: container plants that are well cared for in winter will give much more flowers in the following year. Flowering is much more exuberant then.”
