They stand for courage, strength and success and immediately know how to attract attention. With the colourful, exotic summer flower Celosia, you can bring a true work of art into your flower shop. Even though the tropical flower is not easy to grow, the family business Bosbloemen in ‘s-Gravenzande has been doing it for years, with great success. Let’s take a look in their greenhouse.
When you enter the family business of Koos, Marieke and Philip Bos, your mouth drops open. Everywhere you look, you see red, yellow, orange, pink and green pieces of art. Are they flames, cockscombs or crowns? No, they are Celosias. These (sub)tropical summer flowers originally grow under the sun in Asia, Africa, Indonesia and South America. It’s not for nothing that the name Celosia means ‘burning’.
Challenge
Grower Koos Bos once started growing chrysanthemums in his greenhouse. Together with his wife and son, he wanted to broaden his range with a special summer flower. When they met the Celosia, they were immediately sold. “Celosia is very difficult to grow”, admits Koos. “There’s a lot of cultivation work involved, and the flower wants something different every day. But we like a challenge like that. If you do it right and put a lot of time, attention and energy into it, you really do get a wonderful product.”
Flower production of the artistic Celosia takes place from April to October. From their greenhouses in the Wesland region, the family business Bosbloemen supplies around 4 million stems this season in five different colours: pink, orange, red, green and yellow. Their beautiful batches of Celosias for the Decorum range have a consistent quality of the strong ‘Act series’. The stems have a standard length of 75 centimetres. Philip delivers its heaviest grades every season, with the compliments of many florists around the world.
Versatile
The fiery and versatile Celosias easily steal the show anywhere. On their own in a vase, combined in different colours or as an eye-catcher in a stylish bouquet. Each and every one of them is a dazzling work of art on a stem. Since Celosias stand for courage, strength and success, they are actually appropriate for many occasions – from graduation to a new job. Growing a subtropical plant in a cold country like the Netherlands: is that sustainable?
“Using the most modern techniques and current requirements, we try to grow a product from the highest quality possible, using as little resources as possible. We are therefore Globegab and MPS A certified,” says Philip proudly. “We use all the water we collect back in cultivation. We also have solar panels and work with a cogeneration plant, converting gas into electricity, heat and CO2, all of which we use in our greenhouse.”
Would you like to take a look in the greenhouse of family business Bosbloemen? Watch the video here!
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