Author Topic: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?  (Read 1014 times)

gaja

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I'm going to Brussels for work Thursday, and since I'm avoiding flying I'm arriving by ferry (with car) to the Netherlands already Monday. My travel home will be via Germany and Denmark, to pick up some nut trees.

Do you have any recommendations for me for things to see or do, nice places to stay for a night or two? Right now my hangups are mainly in rural areas, specifially the gardening/farming world; I would love to get some nice flower bulbs for a good price, or visit good gardening stores for nut and berry trees. Maybe any of you know about farmers or businesses focusing on permaculture, regenerative agriculture, forest gardens, or similar stuff? Or someone who raise quail in a animal friendly way?


RWD

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2022, 06:06:29 PM »
Maybe some tulip bulbs?

Mr FrugalNL

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2022, 12:46:50 AM »
You might enjoy the Gardens of Appeltern, which describes itself as the Netherlands' largest garden idea park. It's about halfway between 's-Hertogenbosch and Nijmegen, both of which are worth a visit.

Imma

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2022, 02:15:31 AM »
What kind of bulbs are you looking for? Just the "standard" bulbs for a good price or more exclusive bulbs?

It's not in a rural area and maybe not what you're looking for at all but every gardener's dream is Vreeken's Zaden in Dordrecht, near Rotterdam. This is a seed shop and they have maybe not everything but a lot. Don't order online from them, that's a disaster (they have months of backlog and have had that for years) but the shop itself is great. Dordrecht is also a picturesque city, but it's not a big city. Vreeken's also has all sorts of bulbs and some plants.

To the east from Dordrecht you'll find the Betuwe area which is where you'll found most Dutch commercial fruit tree businesses and also a lot of tree nurseries. Shops selling special bulbs are mostly located in the west of the country, but "standard" bulbs for a good price are widely available. There are also some big "mainstream" gardening stores in that area, such as Van Binsbergen in Kesteren. In this area many people are still very religious (orthodox calvinism) so you'll find most shops are closed on Sundays and on the street you'll see women with long hair, long skirts and lots of children. As long as you don't go around wearing black metal band T-shirts you'll be fine, everyone usually gets along, but my friend moved to one of the villages in this area and wasn't really aware of this, and was kind of shocked.

There are some niche sellers specifically catering to organic/permaculture markets but they usually have limited opening hours. One I can think of is Floris Bomen in Den Dungen (near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch). I don't think you'll find a lot of quail farmers in NL, quail eggs aren't widely eaten here. I've never come across one. The Gardens of Appeltern are indeed very famous.

gaja

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2022, 08:55:34 AM »
Thank you all very much! I’ve just spent several hours chatting about nuts and fruits at De Zandse Notengaard. Now I’m going to have a stroll in Appeltern gardens. Vreekens zaden appears to be closed today, but I’ll try to find a hotel in the area and go there tomorrow morning.

Any other ideas? Btw: what are farm equipment stores called in the Netherlands?

Mr FrugalNL

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2022, 11:02:19 AM »
If it's tractors, trailers, combines and such you're looking for then Google 'landbouwmachines'.

How were the Appeltern gardens? I hope the rain wasn't too bad.

Imma

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2022, 12:40:50 PM »
If it's tractors, trailers, combines and such you're looking for then Google 'landbouwmachines'.

How were the Appeltern gardens? I hope the rain wasn't too bad.

The businesses can also be called "landbouwmechanisatie" which kind of means the same thing.

gaja

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2022, 06:56:34 AM »
I was thinking more in the line of egg cartons, feed, things for holding feed and water, etc?

The weather was quite alright at Appeltern, but I think the gardens have a bigger wow factor earlier in the season. Still, a nice and quiet place. Also found a good and surprisingly cheap hotel for the night at Kasteel de vanenburg.

Vreken’s Zaden was fantastic! Just spent two hours in there looking at everything, and buying a lot. Some of the things there, like planters and garlic bulbs, were nearly a tenth of the price in Norway. The seeds were decently priced too, but they had far to much I wanted, so overall there were no savings in that regard.

Kesteren is next up, and then I’ll look for a place to sleep closer to Belgium.

Imma

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2022, 10:08:07 AM »
Glad you liked Vreeken's! It's one of my favourite places, they have absolutely everything you could ever imagine. Their prices are more than fair for what they offer. Maybe you didn't save money but you will have a lot of different things growing in your garden next year!

If you're looking for supplies for small animals, gardening, canning, clothing, and of course, clogs, etc the main two chains would be Welkoop and Boerenbond. In rural communities there are often also smaller independent shops, I think the best thing to google would be "diervoeding" (animal feed) and those places usually sell the supplies, too.

gaja

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2022, 02:41:52 PM »
I think boerenbond is just what I’m looking for! Now just to find one in the vicinity of a train station where I can park the car for the night I’m in Brussels. That is a place I 100% refuse to drive. The Maastricht one looks good, and in the right direction for the return journey via Denmark.

iris lily

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2022, 06:05:12 PM »
I'm going to Brussels for work Thursday, and since I'm avoiding flying I'm arriving by ferry (with car) to the Netherlands already Monday. My travel home will be via Germany and Denmark, to pick up some nut trees.

Do you have any recommendations for me for things to see or do, nice places to stay for a night or two? Right now my hangups are mainly in rural areas, specifially the gardening/farming world; I would love to get some nice flower bulbs for a good price, or visit good gardening stores for nut and berry trees. Maybe any of you know about farmers or businesses focusing on permaculture, regenerative agriculture, forest gardens, or similar stuff? Or someone who raise quail in a animal friendly way?

I’m assuming you live in Europe, right? Because it doesn’t make any sense to transport trees to the United States.

But in case you live in the United States here is advice for people in the States:

I deal with bulb purveyors and in general, most bulbs, notice I said most not all, are raised in the Netherlands.

They are graded as to size, so it doesn’t really matter who you buy from if you want high-quality bulbs meaning  top size bulbs. Work with a vendor who offers that.  I was a buyer for a Lily Society sales and we work with wholesale vendors who offered graded bulbs, small, medium, large. I will admit I haven’t seen that and retail offerings.

Hint: not Van Borgondien or Brecks or any of those catalogs with Dutch names that come to your home…not good.

Honestly, for general bulb quality I would recommend Brett and Becky’s in the United States. They handle a variety of bulbs, and they hybridize daffodils themselves, and they grow some things themselves.

« Last Edit: October 03, 2022, 08:30:33 AM by iris lily »

gaja

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Re: Netherlands and Belgium: Things to see and cheap flower bulbs to buy?
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2022, 03:00:48 AM »
I'm safely back home. The last day was a very long drive, and if anyone is wondering; sleeping in the backseats of a Toyota Yaris on top of a mountain is both cold and cramped. From Denmark I even got a Korea Pine. I'm really eager to see if it can survive and produce pine nuts in our climate!

Good advice on bulb sizes, thank you @iris lily :) For me, smaller bulbs are ok since I have the space and time to grow them larger.

No, I'm not in the US. That would have been a very long ferry trip. :D