Lily Hunting in The Netherlands
What’s it like to go lily hunting in The Netherlands?
Wild.
One of the most fascinating things we learned and saw during our recent bulb sourcing trip was just how far off the mark the vast majority of the lily production has been headed in terms of the preferences and interests we see from growers in North America.
Our customers prefer unique, specialty varieties with delicate nuances. Soft colors. Bouquet-sized blooms. Textures and color combinations that allow them to mix well with other flowers.
But the majority of the displays we saw were quite the opposite: brokers were proud to share MASSIVE 8+ inch long oriental buds in bright red or perfect white colors. These flowers opened into overwhelming 10+ inch diameter blooms. The larger the bulb size, the more buds each stem has— so we saw lilies that had 1/2 inch wide stems. They were more like trees than the saleable flowers we like ourselves as growers.
Explaining our preferences to some of the brokers left them puzzled. At one stop, a hybridizer asked us to go through the greenhouse and select our favorite variety, as if it was our choice to determine which would proceed to multiplication and eventually be available for sales. To his shock and horror, we chose one that had been on the “cut list”. It was about half as tall as it’s 6ft neighbors in the row, the flowers we’re as large, and the color was a muted pink-lavender (almost with grey tones).
Ever been asked for “dusty rose” colored flowers? Personally — it’s not my favorite color, but as farmer florists at Little Farmhouse Flowers we are repeatedly asked to include this color in our wedding and event work. The demand is there, but it’s very hard to satisfy with the current market offerings for lilies. That lily was the perfect “dusty rose” color.
The 20+ appointments and the many conversations we had with hybridizers, brokers, and farmers of lily bulbs were just what the industry needed. Many hybridizers have been working hard to grow huge, shiny, bright red lilies for the last decade or so (it takes years to bring new varieties to the market place) and the trends they’ve been following have been coming from the voices of the buyers who are visiting them and sharing their preferences (mostly east Asian companies).
We are very excited to join the conversation and to advocate for North American flower farmers and florists. Our collection aims to reflect the needs and interests of small specialty cut flower growers who have discerning clients that are looking for a bit more than the Stargazers and Casa Blancas that have flooded our marketplaces for SO LONG.
We offer: unusual forms and varieties. We’re aim to share lilies that are more likely to surprise and intrigue buyers than remind them of a funeral parlor. And from what we saw in The Netherlands, a couple dedicated lily breeders have remained committed to the art of the lily above the trends from a single marketplace. These specialty varieties have re-ignited our passion for the species, and we think they will be of interest to you, too.
They are the work of master hybridizers who are looking for interesting and curious flowers over bigger, shinier, flashy-er lilies. Looking for something different? Do you wish we had something else in our assortment? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.