Let Me Teach You A Lesson

Time for a lesson on flower bulbs, inspired by our most frequently asked question of this time of year: Why are we waiting so long to send you the flower bulbs you ordered? We could do that, the bulbs spend all summer in our warehouse, but still we refuse to ship them. Really, even if you ask nicely. I’ve tried to explain our reasoning for this a few years earlier, but I think we’ve had a couple of new subscribers since then, so I’ll try to improve my previous explanation. This is why we let you wait for your flower bulbs.  Daffodil Roundita

At first glance, flower bulbs seem to do nothing during the summer months. She seems to be on a beach holiday, fully relaxed, in a sort of reverse hibernation, waiting to be planted again.  That could not be further from the truth. During summer, the flower bulb is extremely busy preparing herself for next year. I can see you questioning this statement, after all: you can’t see anything on the outside of the bulb.  But everything with an outside has an inside, and within this inside lies the answer to our question. We will dissect a bulb so you can see what this looks like. Don’t be afraid, I am not trying to get my blog an 18+ rating, but it does feel slightly horrendous to do this to a poor bulb. She won’t survive this lecture, I am afraid, but it is in the name of science.  This Daffodil has volunteered to be the one to take one for the team. I’ll perform an open heart surgery on her to show you what flower bulbs do during the summer months.

 If you take a close look at this picture, you can see how the entirety of the Daffodil plant is already present inside the bulb. The leafs, the piece of stem, the flower itself, and if we had the tools to zoom in even further we’d get to the stamen, which is in there already, too. All of this is made during the summer. 

Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils: All spring blooming flower bulbs are doing this during the summer months. This is why we keep them in our warehouse.  A Tulip that has also offered her life for science and education

We keep them in our warehouse because the more you spoil a bulb during this period of preparation, the better the new flower will be. The bulb needs a constant temperature and fresh air in order for the new flower to look as good as possible. The right storage is of immense importance when it comes to the beauty and quality of the flower bulb. 

So, we send the bulbs out in Autumn, when they have spent enough time in good conditions to have prepared optimally for the upcoming year.  Now that I’ve started with this lecture, I’ll add another practical announcement from Renata from our office: From now on, it is no longer possible to add to orders you’ve already made. We have started to print the order forms, and if you want to add a variety or two to that original order, we’d have to go through the whole warehouse to see where your order is at this moment. Before we start packing and sending orders, we are happy to provide this service as it is better for the environment to not have separate packages, but we have to stop somewhere, unfortunately.

Hmm, I wanted to talk about flower bulbs that do well in pots, too, but I think I’ve already used up my letters for this week.

I’m going back outside, then. There is lots of little chores that need doing around the garden.  One last thing to make you happy: the Sunflower Maze at Land van Fluwel is beautiful this year. The ladies in charge continue to come up with the most amazing ideas, so if you’re in the neighbourhood… Kind regards, 

Carlos van der Veek