After a quiet winter, cut hortensia grower Bob Kouwenhoven from the Pico Bello Hortensia nursery is busy preparing flowers for this year’s special celebrations, including Mother’s Day. From April to November, he supplies a range of hortensias with different blooming periods. We were invited to take a look behind the scenes in the grower’s greenhouse, where he is currently cultivating his next batch of hortensias. Over the next few weeks, the lush greenery that dominates the greenhouse right now will explode with colour! As hortensias are mainly sold via auction, Bob’s business relies heavily on market demand.
A lot of space
“The fact that we have a lot of space at our disposal helps us to spread the risk. The scale of our business puts us at the forefront of the market, and we’re at the end of the season. We have 34 different varieties here; at the moment, this part of the greenhouse contains three white varieties, one of which will be ready to go within three weeks and another which we will continue to harvest all season. This approach enables us to provide a constant supply of the same colour over a longer period of time. At the moment, the market can’t accommodate very large volumes of the same varieties, so we try to offer a range of different varieties where possible.”
Hydrangea coloring
Our tour continues, taking us into another section of the greenhouse. In this area, Bob has set aside a section for blue and purple Pink Verenas.
“The greenhouse is full of these black hoses, which supply water and feed to the plants. We also have these white hoses for coloured flowers. These contain water with added aluminium sulphate, which makes the root ball more acidic and changes the colour of the flower. Depending on the variety, the flower may end up light or dark blue or light or dark purple. We can also adjust the amount of aluminium sulphate we add, which will affect the intensity of the colour change.”
Family business
Bob’s father Paul and dog Barry join us as we wander through the greenhouse. The nursery is a true family business; Bob works alongside his father, two brothers and his mother.
“Once the season is properly under way, mum is responsible for transporting the flowers from one location to another. She goes to one area and has a cup of coffee with my brother in the mornings, then comes back this way in the afternoons."
So, these hortensias really are made by mothers, for mothers! By Mother’s Day, the nursery will have a stunning range ready to put smiles on the faces of mums everywhere.
