Tesselaar Alstroemeria
Tesselaar Alstroemeria, the company of Rick and Karolien Tesselaar. They grew up in the field, took over the company from his father and so they have 25 years of experience in the field. They are proud of their field and all the diverse varieties they grow. The favorite Alstroemerias? Maracena & Rome, one deep dark purple and the other deep pink!
Tip from Karolien: Put a few stems at various heights in a small vase! This is so subtle in your home and really transforms your interior.
Tesselaar Alstroemeria
- 10 acres
- 23 species
What makes this field so special for you?
The challenge of growing a beautiful flower, providing employment and striving for 0% negative impact on the environment.
The Alstroemeria is such a surprising flower, it is a joy to work with every day.
Can you describe your role and/or outline your involvement in the process?
Being visionary: helping the Alstroemeria into the future and scaling up our company. This requires attention to expansion, sustainability, marketing, etc. There is also still great involvement in the cultivation through years of knowledge.
Which part of the process do you find most fun/challenging?
The process: working together to deliver a thunderously beautiful product. When customers are satisfied, we are satisfied that we have achieved this!
What are you most proud of?
Team Tesselaar! Happy people having a good time together while they prepare our flowers for customers, who then become happy again. What a great job we have.
What has changed or had the greatest impact in recent years?
The most intense of the last few years was first the impact corona from which our flower recovered very quickly. Now it's the gas prices and the drop in demand this summer. We are highly dependent on external factors over which we have little control.
What does sustainable cultivation look like in your organisation?
We have been calculating our footprint for years and are constantly looking for solutions to become more sustainable. We do this through:
- We are testing pressing fertilizer from our own plant waste.
- We are exploring the possibilities of fully organic cultivation.
- We have invested in LED (4 hectares).
- We participate in pilots of start-ups to use less energy/heat.
- We use covers made from 100% recycled plastic.
Dot on the horizon: growing beautiful flowers without negative impact on nature and environment!
What do you think the process of growing or breeding will look like in 10 years?
Conditioned cultivation, no more greenhouses but a well-insulated environment where you can adjust heat and amount of light yourself. This gives you year-round stable production, processes can be robotized, even picking.
The Alstroemeria itself is becoming the flower that every environmentally conscious buyer buys. In 10 years, no one will ask: the Alstroemeria, what is that? No one will say: yes of course, I always buy those!
What do you think makes the Alstroemeria so special?
That 1 stem has so many buds, that it shows its true beauty only after a few days and that it can be grown so sustainably.
What would you tell a florist about the Alstroemeria?
Choose consciously whether you let the Alstroemeria be the surprise (sell in bud) or already show its splendor by letting it come open in warm water after purchase. An open flower does not mean that it is old, the alstroemeria is still 1.5 weeks old. Show her color, I can't say it often enough. Put open vases in your store so customers see: wow that's a cool flower! There is so much return on investment for the florist.
What ambitions do you have for the Alstroemeria?
Positioning. We have a world to win by making our flower more widely known!