Frank Hulsebosch, Searching the World for Better Bulbs

Frank Hulsebosch

Frank Hulsebosch of Schagerbrug, Holland, considers the daffodil his favorite flower. "Even with so many daffodil varieties already on the market, there's still room for new and improved varieties," he says. In fact, Frank is so convinced of the potential for new daffodil varieties, that two years ago he purchased more than 1,000 breeder selections from growers in Latvia. He's currently trialing all of these new daffodils, though he knows that most will never make the cut. He's confident there is potential for at least a few top-notch varieties to shine through.

Frank and his brother Crock grew up in the bulb business. Their father started growing bulbs in 1956 in Hillegom, Holland. In 1966, they moved their business to Schagerbrug in the Northern Bulb-Growing District. Frank attended the Royal Horticultural School for several years, but when his father became ill, he dropped out to tend the family business. Since 1984, he and Crock have run the business together; Crock manages the fields, while Frank is in charge of the warehouse and sales.

While Frank loves growing daffodils—they produce 3 million annually—he and his brother also grow a few other bulbs. Each year they produce 8 million tulips, 12 million lilies, 250,000 camassias, 100,000 colchicums and 400,000 alliums! Frank looks forward to wandering the fields in spring to evaluate the daffodil and tulip trials and determine which varieties look most promising. He also enjoys the autumn, when he pitches in to plant lilies for the following year.

Martinette is one of Frank's favorite daffodils. It's a late-blooming variety with small, yellow flowers and orange centers. Each stem holds multiple blooms—as many as five—and they have an intense, sweet fragrance.

Frank has also had some major accomplishments in the breeding of tulips. He has been working with Darwin hybrids, also known as Lefeber tulips, which are named for the breeder who introduced them in the 1930s. From this breeding program Frank has created six unique tulip selections that are known for their stately height—some stand as much as 3 feet tall. Dutch Gardens carries his Blushing Lady, a lily-shaped blossom with golden-orange petals accented by a flash of hot pink. Blushing Lady holds its color well over a long period of time.

Frank continues to search for unique bulb varieties to add to his growing fields. On a trip to Latvia about five years ago, he found a white, fringed viridiflora tulip that he's been working on ever since. He expects it to be on the market within a few years.

Frank also likes working with some of the minor bulbs, such as camassia, also known as the wild hyacinth. It's a Pacific Northwest native that grows well in sunny, damp areas, such as along streams. Varieties come in colors ranging from white to blue. Frank has been growing white camassia for years, but recently he found a very dark blue and a very light blue camassia at a flower bulb sale in Latvia that he will be trialing.

Frank says that discovering these sorts of interesting new varieties, and working with other breeders and growers to bring them to market, is what keeps the bulb business so alive and interesting for him.