Florapodium on tour!
"Come in the Greenhouse" is an annual event organized by the horticulture industry in the Netherlands. Various fruit, vegetable and flower growers open their doors and organize fun activities for the public as well as provide information about their product and its cultivation.

FloraPodium was On Tour at the invitation of Dutch Lilies. With several beautiful lilies from their own greenhouse, the FloraPodium team created a nice photo call, where visitors could take beautiful photos and selfies between the most beautiful lilies and the cheerful FloraPodium sheep.

Dutch Lilies
Klaas Wagenaar and André Imanse are the owners of the Dutch Lilies company. Dutch Lilies is almost completely automated, which means that little manual labor is involved in production.

The lilies are still being cut by hand. The lilies are then taken to the processing room on a conveyor belt where more staff is involved in making bunches. This is also another quality check. The lilies are then automatically fitted with an elastic band and cut off. Before the lilies go into the buckets, the lilies are packed in a cover. This is the last quality check before the lilies go to the auction.

The employees who work the most hours in the company are the chickens. These fun and cozy creatures scurry all day between the crops looking for weeds. This allows the company to limit the chemical control to the absolute minimum.

Not only do the chickens work towards the goal of growing as organically as possible, but the company also tries to find more sustainable ways of keeping the soil clean. For example, the lilies are grown in crates because they are easy to move and clean after production. Oriental lilies, for example, need clean soil to grow well and produce beautiful full flowers. The crates and the earth are steamed after each production. The earth is shaken loose and mixed with new coconut fibers before new bulbs are planted. The coconut fibers ensure sufficient oxygen in the soil.

Dutch Lilies has a partnership with Imanse Quality Lilies and Vision of Lilies. Together they have six gardens. All three companies specialize in producing the flowers. Only Dutch Lilies also develops the bulbs as well. These bulbs are strictly selected for high quality. The bulbs are grown in France, Chile and the Netherlands. Because of the changes in the season in these countries, the companies can produce the same high quality lilies all year round. Because the bulbs are produced by their own company, the companies can grow their own varieties, such as El Capitan and the Apricot Fudge.

In the spotlights of Florapodium:
The Lily LA Apricot Fudge is grown at Imanse Quality Lilies, the company of André Imanse. This lily is special because the flower does not resemble the lily as we know it.

The Apricot Fudge was created about eight years ago from a mutation of the LA Salmon Classic Lily. With this mutation the stamens grow through the petals. The petals are also very hard, so they are very suitable for flower arrangements. Mutants could also mutate back to the original form. However, the company is not afraid of this, because it has been blooming as a steady mutant lily for five years now. The company always tests for durability and quality. Because of this they know that the Apricot Fudge can have a beautiful vase life of two to three weeks! The Apricot Fudge is very exclusive and is currently only bred by Imanse.

As with many growers, the history of Imanse nursery also goes back a number of generations. The grandfather of André Imanse started as a bulb grower of tulips and daffodils. In 1955 André’s father started cultivating summer flowers and various lilies. In the end, the company only continued with the cultivation of lilies.

Imanse also receives help from a team of biological controllers. If during the warm days the windows are left open, the gall midge will see this as a warm welcome into the greenhouse. These spontaneous visitors have a good influence on the crop, because the larvae of this mosquito eat the lice. This also means that fewer crop protection products are needed.

The Apricot Fudge is a Lily that blooms beautiful in the vase for 2 to 3 weeks! To keep the flower as beautiful as possible, it is better to use cut flower food. Use a clean vase and fill it with cold water. Make sure that there is no leaf in the water and cut the bottom part of the stem in an angle before putting them in the vase! On this way you will  enjoy this special Lily for a few weeks!

FloraPodium, 11 April 2018