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.

'Longing for the next lesson as one longs for delicious food'

The Japanese-Canadian floral designer Hitomi Gilliam calls herself an 'open source floral educator'. She wants to share all the knowledge and skills she has with others who are interested. She lives on Bowen Island, near Vancouver, Canada, but travels the world to teach, both in person and virtually. 'Education must be exciting to follow.'

'I shifted up a gear for the final'

On January 15, Franka Roenhorst won the Dutch Floral Art Championship. Together with her partner Hans Zijlstra, she owns flower shop Bloemstylist Hans Zijlstra in Groningen. Franka is also the Dutch candidate for the World Floral Art Championship in 2025. Reason enough for an interview with the new Dutch Floral Art Champion!