Hein Huyg, Tulip Master

Grower Hein Huyg with Leo Vandervlugt, Dutch Gardens president.

Hein Huyg loves growing and breeding spring-flowering bulbs. His family has been growing bulbs on their same 85-acre farm in northern Holland, since 1913. In a typical season, Hein grows 1 million daffodils, 7 million tulips, 9 million chionodoxa and 700 million alliums. Hein attributes his family's success to having fine-quality, well-drained soil that they have taken good care of all these years.

Hein began working in the family business when he was 14 and has been hybridizing bulbs on his own his 1946. Now his two sons help him with the business. Although the breeding work can be tedious—sometimes taking more than 15 years to develop a new tulip variety—Hein loves the testing and developing aspect of bulb growing. Success comes after many years of trial and error. Some of it is a matter of science and close observation. Other times he follows what he calls a "green feeling" inside about a certain variety and how it will perform.

Hein's breeding specialties are the Lily-Flowered Tulips, Fringed Tulips, Multi-flowered Tulips, and Pink Daffodils. Some of the tulips he grows for Dutch Gardens are 'Candy Club', 'Fly Away' and 'Prairie Fire'.

Candy Club Tulip, one of Hein Huyg's triumphs.

As you can probably guess, Hein loves springtime. This is when he gets to see the results of his breeding work. One of the breeding projects that excites him most is the opportunity to continue improving some of the varieties that his farm has grown for years. He's presently working on improved varieties of Multi-flowered Tulips, Double Tulips, as well as double-fringed tulips.

Although breeding is difficult, time-consuming work, success is exhilarating when you succeed. Hein remembers his success with the 'Candy Club' tulip, which produces a miniature bouquet of up to 8 white-and-magenta flowers on each stem. After 25 to 30 years of breeding work and hundreds of trials he finally perfected the color and form of this late-blooming tulip. He well remembers the spring day in his test garden when he finally saw this perfect tulip unfurl in its full glory. Hein was so ecstatic he ran all the way down the road to get his neighbor to come over and share in the joy.