'In my spacious garden I grow lots of flowers and plants'

Master florist Birgit Davids-Schuurman owns a vocational flower school for adults, Floral Academy, in Ede. ‘I teach students who want to deepen or (further) develop their skills as florists. Summer means a slightly quieter time for me, spending a lot of time outside in the garden, enjoying family and friends.’

‘In my own spacious garden, I grow many flowers and plants that are suitable for floral work. In the summer, there are many types of flowers available. I also love to go through the garden with my knife and collect all kinds of materials for a summer bouquet or arrangement.’

‘My floral work is characterized by versatility; I love variety: sometimes very minimalist and sleek, then natural, excessive kitsch, or classic. In terms of color, I often opt for ton-sur-ton, although I can certainly appreciate a colorful creation.’

'I love summer the most anyway'

Freelance floral stylist Fiona Konings has been mainly active in events since 2002. ‘In addition to performing floral styling, I also started taking photographs.’

‘I mainly get my inspiration from nature. But, and I realize that now: I actually get inspiration from almost everything around me. I like to combine my love for nature, flowers, and butterflies in my photos. The arrangement with the roses, for example, would be a beautiful setting for an inspiring photo shoot!’

'Although I can really enjoy all seasons, I still love summer the most. The outdoor life, the long evenings, the cheerful people, the warmth. In the summer you can literally recharge yourself. And of course, the sunflower cannot be missing from a summer theme!'

Pure Summer

After the long rainy winter and late spring, the arrival of summer is perhaps even more welcome than other years. And how nice it is then that the flower trade can give full expression to that with a great assortment of summer flowers.

'Be sure to capitalize on the fragrance'

Spring is bursting out again and the splendor of colors appears in the form of budding branches, bulbs emerging from the ground, and blossoms bursting into bloom. Green stylist Sjacco Gerritsen can get excited about it every year. 'Spring is the period from which we at Fleur Inn green styling get a lot of energy. New year, new opportunities, and you always notice that customers are eager to make their house and garden cozy again with spring flowers.

'We use a lot of extending branches and a lot of natural materials. In addition, it is also very exciting and surprising to play with scent. That sometimes fades into the background a bit.'

‘The scent of spring: daffodils, mimosa, hyacinths, lilies: you notice that customers in the store love that. Real spring is in color, scent and design – we as florists can do a lot with that. And above all, also seduce the customer.’

'Spring means color and wonder to me'

In addition to running her company Hilde in huis, floral artist Hilde Pit teaches four days a week at a VMBO-groen school where she introduces students to the floral industry during flower & design classes. ‘Students inspire me with their wonder at certain materials, which makes it all the more fun to inspire them again with new materials.’

‘I grew up with the Weerribben-Wieden National Park as my backyard. This is where my love for the outdoors and beautiful materials from nature originated. For me, spring means fine materials, color, and wonder. Seeing the buds come back on the trees and the first fresh sprigs in the garden: fantastic.’

‘In this season I use bright colors in combination with pastel, all mixed together. I love headstrong materials: fragile ranunculus but also tulips that happily decide which way they grow. Today's customer appreciates the flowers much more as they are now, little foliage, purity. That is something of recent years, but I am sure that customers will appreciate that even more in the coming period.

Spring symphony

Spring is arriving. And that can be noticed as early as February, although of course it can still be quite wintery well into March and even April. But for now, the outside temperature has been very mild for weeks this year, which is why the bulbs are sprouting from the ground in the garden, the branches are budding, and the birds, judging by their chirping, also clearly have spring in their heads.