NL: Amaryllis maternity ward

What started with 2000 meters of amaryllis has now, 25 years later, developed into a true amaryllis specialist with a 27 acre large greenhouse in Maasdijk. The business was founded in 1990 by father van der Ende and is now run by his 3 sons: Martijn, Gerard and Sjoerd. It’s a modern and versatile nursery growing large headed, double flowered and exclusive cybister amaryllis varieties.

Martijn and his brothers share the same passion for amaryllis as their father. With 25 different varieties, the greenhouse holds a complex growing schedule to adapt available colours to the 4 seasons. “We have for instance, a lot more pink varieties during Mother’s Day, but focus on reds and whites for Christmas.” Not only colour is important but also the wide product range. Van Der Ende nursery makes sure that exclusive varieties are available in November and December. “This is the time of year when florists can distinguish themselves from supermarkets.”

Maternity ward
“We have our own maternity ward where we try and test out new species. We also cross breed new varieties ourselves using brushes. This is not as easy as it seems and sometimes it takes up to 3 years before we can even harvest a single seed from the flower.” In some cases, it takes 10 years before a new variety is taken into production. The bulbs are continuously cut into smaller pieces in order to create more bulbs, which can then be planted up. The latest varieties are set aside for FleuraMetz, which they offer through their New Stars programme in selected Cash & Carry’s. Testing, trying, renewing and differentiating is what they do at Van Der Ende nursery.”

For more information:
FleuraMetz
www.fleurametz.com