The André Rieu Tulip Bulbs
by Ineke Cornelissen/Sonja
September 2007
Last weekend we took off to the Dutch countryside in the Northern part of the province “North Holland”.
Do you remember my story about the André Rieu Tulips?
The Americans can order the tulip at
http://www.dutchgardens.com/, but this tulip is not yet for
sale in Europe and Holland. The reason is that the grower
still has to multiply more bulbs.
At the moment he has just enough to export to the USA. But
he wanted to make an exception for the André Rieu fans in
Europe. He would sell us a number of bulbs. We calculated
the price inclusive the postage fees (very expensive,
according to the weight of the package!!). We published
our message on the American and German websites and
we got orders for 500 bulbs.
Well, a few days ago José Ligthart, the bulbgrower’s wife, sent us a message that the bulbs were already
available!
That is a month earlier than usual, due to the early start of summer in the Netherlands in 2007. Ruud and I
decided to drive to the village of Breezand right away. We had ordered 500 bulbs for fans in England, Denmark,
Belgium and Germany. On our question: “How can we transport 500 bulbs, how many buckets is that?” José
answered: “That is a full gauze-casket which you can take with you in the car”. We felt stupid, but we had to ask
again: “What is a gauze casket??” We are big city people, we had never heard that word before! After visiting the
nursery of the Ligtharts, we know now! That are stacking caskets with a gauze bottom to let the air float all
around the bulbs, to keep them dry and healthy.
We met Jan and José and two of their six kids: Kees and Helena.
They guided us through their big barns. Even at Saturday the family was at work in the barns. Dividing, peeling
and counting is done by machines.
We had a few very enjoyable hours with them. We
loaded the bulbs into our car, checked the bill, said
goodbye and started the two hours drive back home.
At home we spent the Sunday packing the bulbs into boxes, ready for sending them the next day.
I hope you liked this story and the pictures.
Ineke
For the fans who will plant these tulips, please sent some pictures of the results next spring, I hope to
follow up on this story with a page full of Andre tulips in the gardens of his fans all over the US and Europe!
Ineke and Sonja
by Ineke Cornelissen/Sonja
September 2007
Last weekend we took off to the Dutch countryside in the Northern part of the province “North Holland”.
Do you remember my story about the André Rieu Tulips?
The Americans can order the tulip at
http://www.dutchgardens.com/, but this tulip is not yet for
sale in Europe and Holland. The reason is that the grower
still has to multiply more bulbs.
At the moment he has just enough to export to the USA. But
he wanted to make an exception for the André Rieu fans in
Europe. He would sell us a number of bulbs. We calculated
the price inclusive the postage fees (very expensive,
according to the weight of the package!!). We published
our message on the American and German websites and
we got orders for 500 bulbs.
Well, a few days ago José Ligthart, the bulbgrower’s wife, sent us a message that the bulbs were already
available!
That is a month earlier than usual, due to the early start of summer in the Netherlands in 2007. Ruud and I
decided to drive to the village of Breezand right away. We had ordered 500 bulbs for fans in England, Denmark,
Belgium and Germany. On our question: “How can we transport 500 bulbs, how many buckets is that?” José
answered: “That is a full gauze-casket which you can take with you in the car”. We felt stupid, but we had to ask
again: “What is a gauze casket??” We are big city people, we had never heard that word before! After visiting the
nursery of the Ligtharts, we know now! That are stacking caskets with a gauze bottom to let the air float all
around the bulbs, to keep them dry and healthy.
We met Jan and José and two of their six kids: Kees and Helena.
They guided us through their big barns. Even at Saturday the family was at work in the barns. Dividing, peeling
and counting is done by machines.
We had a few very enjoyable hours with them. We
loaded the bulbs into our car, checked the bill, said
goodbye and started the two hours drive back home.
At home we spent the Sunday packing the bulbs into boxes, ready for sending them the next day.
I hope you liked this story and the pictures.
Ineke
For the fans who will plant these tulips, please sent some pictures of the results next spring, I hope to
follow up on this story with a page full of Andre tulips in the gardens of his fans all over the US and Europe!
Ineke and Sonja
Dutch countryside
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