Theo Ammerlaan, Growing the Best New Lilies

Theo Ammerlaan's farm supplies Dutch Gardens with many varieties of daffodils, tulips and lilies.

Theo Ammerlan has a passion for flowers of all kinds. On his farm in northern Holland, he tends 200 acres of them! Almost 100 of those acres are filled with tulips and daffodils, and each year he harvests almost 10 million of these spring-blooming favorites. Several wonderful tulip varieties got their start on Theo's farm, including the exotic-looking yellow parrot tulip called Toucan.

Theo loves all kinds of flowers, and he couldn't be happy growing just tulips and daffodils. So he grows many interesting specialty bulbs, as well as more than 100 acres of lily bulbs. In recent years, he has been focusing on the new Oriental Trumpet Lilies (also called Orienpet Lilies), which are a cross between Oriental Lilies and Trumpet Lilies. These midsummer bloomers combine the large flowers and heady fragrance of Oriental hybrids with the clear colors and vigor of the trumpet varieties. Oriental Trumpets are strong and healthy performers, and are available in many gorgeous colors. One of Theo's new oriental trumpet lilies is named Honeymoon and produces more than 20 flowers on a single 20 cm bulb.

Theo's son is already a flower lover and spends many hours in the fields with his dad.

The Ammerlaan farm is in the town of Anna Paulowna in Holland's Northern Bulb District. Though still a young man, Theo has been growing bulbs for many years, having taken over the farm from his father, who started the business when he was just 16 years old. His father's uncle had seven daughters, and when none of them expressed an interested in taking over his bulb-growing farm, he gave his young nephew the opportunity to get started by giving him one bulb of each of the varieties on his farm. From these few dozen bulbs, the father and son have grown a thriving business that now produces more than 30 million bulbs annually.

In Holland, growing bulbs is usually a family business, and that's certainly the case on the Ammerlaan farm. Theo's brother manages the fields. His wife Ester, and children Carlyn, age 9, Bart, age 7 and Femke, age 3 are often in the fields with him. "My hobby is my work," says Theo. "I feel that being a grower is more than a profession -- it's a way of life."

Dutch Gardens currently offers four varieties of orienpet lilies from the Ammerlaan farm as well as an Orienpet Lily Collection. These varieties are: Red Hot, Satisfaction, Honeymoon and Touching.