Dutch flower industry continues to wither amid coronavirus

Growers are preserving what they have in storage or fields, however the reality is that almost all of this 12 month’s harvest will possible go to waste.

“The loss is huge,” said Michel van Schie of FloraHolland, the world’s dominant flower clearing house for public sales.

“In the intervening time we now have solely 30% of our regular turnover, and ... that during the busiest period of the year.”

Each day gross sales in March typically move 20 million euros ($22 million) of flowers, which continue with strong sales into the Easter vacation and Mothers Day..

In all, 35% of the world's flower and plant exports, valued at 6.2 billion euros over a 12 months period, move through the Netherlands, principally from Dutch growers, but additionally from African and Latin American farms.

Van Schie said the situation became specially acute on March 13 with the  flight cancellations and bans on public gatherings at many international events. This meant almost 1 / 4 of flowers up for public sale that day went unsold and had to be thrown out.

“Subsequent on that Monday it was 50%, after which we had to take unpleasant measures and we had to tell our growers ‘please diminish your stock’ as a result much of the stock had to be destroyed.”

Read more: Netherlands willing to contribute €1 billion to EU coronavirus fund | NL Times

The Netherlands - California Relations: 100,000 tulips headed to San Francisco — and they're free for the picking - by Michelle Robertson

San Francisco will get a pop of color and a taste of Dutch culture next week with the deposit of 100,000 tulips in Union Square.

March 1 is American Tulip Day, a celebration of American tulips grown from Dutch-raised bulbs. To celebrate, Dutch flower bulb trader Royal Anthos, iBulb.org and the Consulate of General of San Francisco are transporting thousands of multicolor tulips to the bustling tourist center.

Visitors are invited to pick their own bunch of tulips to take home between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., the three-and-a-half-hour stretch that the garden is open to the public. Access to the garden — and the tulips — is free.

The Netherlands has a long history of tulip cultivation and exportation. Originally cultivated in the Ottoman Empire, the tulip — Latin for "flower that looks like a turban" — arrived in Holland during the 16th century.

Frequently depicted in the artwork and literature of the Dutch Golden Age, the tulip went on to become one of the most prized objects of the period. Between 1634 and 1637, a speculative frenzy for tulips led to a period known as "tulip mania." Prizes for bulbs skyrocketed, triggering one of the country's first economic bubbles.

The Dutch went on to become the world's premier tulip exporters, with the U.S. its most avid customer. Each year, the Netherlands ships around 450 million tulip bulbs to the country, which are planted, grown and sold stateside. 

American Tulip Day, Union Square, March 2, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., americantulipday.com. 

Read more: 100,000 tulips headed to San Francisco — and they're free for the picking

The Netherlands: Tulips in bloom

Bulb fields along the Dutch west coast have erupted into a kaleidoscope of color as tulips and other flowers burst into bloom. The most easily accessible fields are mainly found in the coastal strip between the cities of Leiden and Haarlem and are easily accessible by car or train from Amsterdam. Sitting on the top floor of a double-decker train is actually one of the best vantage points to view the broad bars of different colored flowers stretching over pancake-flat fields. If you want to get an even closer look, pay a visit to the world famous Keukenhof park and its flower displays in Lisse, about 25 miles south of Amsterdam. The Keukenhof is open thru May 20.


For more: The Netherlands: Tulips in bloom - Travel - MiamiHerald.com

Epoch Times - Turkey and the Netherlands united by the Tulip - A Spring Blossom’s Curious History - - by Rosemarie Fruehauf

For the complete report from the Epoch Times click on this link

"Turkey and the Netherlands united by the Tulip" - A Spring Blossom’s Curious History - by Rosemarie Fruehauf

You can be glad to get them for a couple of bucks on almost every corner, but tulips were not always that cheap and easy to get. This innocent spring flower looks back on a long and exciting career.Historians of today hold that the tulip emerged as a wild growing plant thousands of years ago spread in a “corridor” which stretches along the 40º latitude between Northern China and Southern Europe. The first peak of the tulip fascination took place on the court of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), the Ottoman Emperor residing in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul. His palace, the Seraglio, was called “Palace of Tulips and Tears” and was decorated with countless tulips. Tiles on the walls, vases, and the textile design of his robe were showing tulips, even his emblem and weapons.

Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, the ambassador of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I at the court of Suleiman, mentioned the Turkish tulip cultivation in a 1555 letter to Vienna. He also supplied Viennese botanist Carolus Clusius (1526-1609) with seeds. Both became the key figures in bringing the tulip to Europe. Clusius brought his collection to Leyden in the Netherlands, to which he fled due to religious persecution. As an expert for medical herbs and hired for research about them, Clusius grew tulips as his personal hobby.

And the rest is history - today the Netherlands are associated with the tulip like no other country and—four centuries after the tulip-induced economical crisis—hold about 80 percent of the world’s tulip production.

History House: Tulipomania - Like beanie babies and DrKoop, tulips used to be all the rage

For the complete report from History House click on this link

The U.S. Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center provides the starting point to this story. It goes to great lengths to detail the thievery and skull duggery that accompanied the introduction of the tulip to Holland. In 1593, botanist Carolus Clusius brought tulips from Constantinople to the University of Leiden in Holland, planting the bulbs in a small garden for purposes of medicinal research. He was a right stingy gardener and refused to give or sell any to the locals. Some of his neighbors, looking to make a buck (or florin, or guilder, or whatever) on the exotic new flower from Turkey and disappointed with Clusius's lack of capitalistic fervor, broke into his garden, stole some bulbs, and started the Dutch tulip trade.

Stars and Stripes: The Netherlands: Keukenhof, world’s most famous garden, bursts with color - by Michael Abrahams

For the complete report from the Stars and Stripes click on this link

Keukenhof, world’s most famous garden, bursts with color - by Michael Abrahams

In Holland, there is no better way to celebrate spring than with the opening of Keukenhof, the world-famous flower garden on the outskirts of Lisse. The flower display started in 1949 when 40 bulb growers from the area got together to create an open-air flower exhibit at a former 15th-century hunting estate with a herb and vegetable garden. The site got its name from Keuken, Dutch for kitchen, and hof meaning garden. In the mid-1800s, a landscaper designed a park there that is still the basis for the current gardens. Today, more than 90 growers plant about 7 million bulbs at Keukenhof — about 4.5 million of them tulips — and about 800,000 visitors come annually to see the flowering spectacle.

Amershon: - the historical birthplace of the tulip - Istanbul in full bloom - by Ann Marie's

For the complete report from Amershorn click on this link

Istanbul in full bloom - by Ann Marie's

Turkey - the historical birthplace of the tulip - Istanbul in full bloom - by Ann Marie's

"At the risk of redundancy, I must share more of my floral enthusiasm. Last Sunday some friends and I walked up to Emirgan Park (my third trip), and we were totally WOWED by the displays. Tulipmania abounds in Istanbul. After a two-hour walk along the Bosphorus (with a welcome stop for tea and treats), we wended our way through the tea gardens of Emirgan up to the south end of the park. Coming in the side entrance wasn’t all that spectacular, but it made for a much more gradual hike up to the summit. After passing well-peopled playgrounds and picnic areas, we found the tulips. Tulips, tulips, tulips".