Meet a Grower
Cor Boumeester grows more than 400 different varieties of perennials, and produces a mind-boggling seven million plants each year, many of which are offered in the Dutch Gardens catalog.

  • Cor Geerlings—Meet a longtime dahlia breeder who hopes to create the first blue dahlia.
  • Jan Ligthart—A self-taught tulip breeder.
  • John Boots—Meet the man who introduced the Super Parrot Tulip.
  • Ge Rooyakkers—The Rooyakkers family grows millions of lilies, tulips, hyacinths, iris, alliums and daffodils on more than 150 acres in Holland's Northern Bulb Growing District.
  • Gerrit Preyde—"Daffodils are the real harbingers of spring. They tell you that winter is truly over."
  • Frank Hulsebosch—"Even with so many daffodil varieties already on the market, there's still room for new and improved varieties."
  • Gerard Heemskerk—Looking for perennials in amazing new colors and forms.
  • Nic Mak—Learn what it takes to create a new lily hybrid.
  • René Rotteveel—Goodwill ambassador for dahlias.
  • Peter Troch—The Begonia Merchant.
  • Dick Groot—Gladiolus purveyor to the world.
  • Rob Bischops—Meet the man who grows several of the Dinnerplate Dahlia varieties that we sell.
  • Piet Groot—Like many Dutch bulb growers, he grew up on a bulb farm and began his career by growing out bulbs that he collected in the fields after the harvest was over.
  • Theo Aanholt—Unlike most of the growers who supply Dutch Gardens, Theo Aanholt did not come from a bulb-growing family. He began his career as a middleman between growers and Holland's flower auction houses. As a hobby, Theo began breeding gladiolus and he soon became a sought-after specialist.
  • Ton Peter van Nieuwkerk—He fell in love with the beauty of amaryllises when it came time to choose a career and, since then, has dedicated himself to the challenging task of breeding new varieties. He has concentrated on producing better color, improved form and shorter stalk length.
  • Jan van den Berg—Jan is the fourth generation of his family to work in the bulb-growing business, taking over the family business when he was just 19 years old. During his tenure, the area under cultivation has expanded from 4 to 130 acres, and Jan now produces hundreds of varieties of tulips, daffodils, lilies and specialty bulbs.
  • K.P. deGeus—K.P. deGeus and his wife grow more than 100 acres of bulbs on their farm. Annually they produce a staggering 3 million daffodils, 15 million tulips and 20 million irises.
  • Hennie de Ruiter—A love of peonies inspired this Dutch grower to develop one of the largest and most respected peony farms in the world.
  • Franz van Lierop—Frans van Lierop and his four brothers operate a company that was founded by their father 50 years ago. The third generation—six grandsons—is now entering the business.
  • Jan Pennings—Meet the man who recognized the qualities of the Replete daffodil.
  • Cor van der Hulst—He began his career in the bulb-growing business with about 400 pounds of crocus bulbs. Today he grows 12 acres of crocus bulbs—and harvests about 4 million of them every year.
  • Theo Ammerlaan—On his farm in northern Holland, Ammerlaan tends 200 acres of tulips, daffodils, lilies and other bulbs.
  • Hein Huyg—Hein Huyg's family has been growing tulips on the same 85-acre farm in northern Holland since 1913.
  • Kees de Goede—Kees de Goede specializes in unusual bulbs, such as calochortus.
  • Arnold Van Peteghem—The Van Peteghem family grows more than 7 million begonia tubers each year.
  • Jack de Vroomen—Jack de Vroomen's family has been growing bulbs and perennials in Holland since 1925.
  • Cor Bouwmeester—Meet the grower who developed the Purple Emperor Sedum.