A Trip to Royal Flora Holland Flower Auction with Hilverda de Boer

So a lifetime bucket list experience came to pass yesterday! Two years ago, I set-up this trip to go to Hilverda, but due to a family emergency my trip was cut short, and I returned home. Now, TAKE 2!

Arriving early at Hilverda's large building literally across the street from the Royal Holland auction, with luggage in tow, Dalia and I got a warm welcome from the lady at reception. Come to find out, 7 a.m. isn't so early. Many of these employees are here much earlier than that to start buying on the auction.

Sander, who is our account manager for the US, was our amazing personal tour guide. He has been with Hilverda since 2000, and he knows the business of flowers, Holland flowers, that is! Our tour began with Sander driving across the street and showing us around the Royal FloraHolland. As you can see from the images, I've never seen anything like it!

Yes, they take live pictures of the product as it arrives from the auction, so what you see online to purchase is what is available right now!

 Packing our product for shipping. Watching the people carefully pack and then seeing the strapping machine at work making sure the boxes were secure for shipping was interesting!

Buyers sitting behind computers looking at the huge screens showing the next flower as it comes up...waiting until the price and quantity get to be where they want and then by the press of a key, the buckets are purchased! Down below their buying room, the carts are "passed" on automated tracks where they get picked up by people on a, what I call  "floral segway." It's crazy just watching the process. Labels are printed once the product is purchased and these floral Segways scurry around placing the buckets on carts where they were purchased. Once the carts are full for that particular customer, they are moved on the tracks to the shipping area. Hilverda doesn't need to bring a truck across the street to pick up their orders, there is a robotic "arm" that picks up their carts and then takes it across the street to their building. This arm then places it on the packing floor there in Hilverda's warehouse. The buckets get sent to a packer, who then takes premium care in packing our box for shipping. It blows my mind that my simple order of flowers gets to me!

Hand-picked, hand-sorted and graded for quality at the farm. (Let's not forget the time and effort that goes into to growing at the farm level). The farm ships to Royal FloraHolland and gets auctioned off. It's purchased and then sorted, sent to the buyer, who then packs and ships it to us. All of this happens within less than 24 hours? My goodness, it makes my head spin. Do we live in a fantastic time or what? I never take for granted the blooms that I come into my door each day. The prices we pay are worth every penny.

Yes, it's a bloom that eventually dies, but do we really take it in? Do we take the time to enjoy the moment of greatness that it brings? This tour was a flower lover's dream. I already appreciated the blooms from the farm standpoint since visiting so many in the US over the past few years, but seeing the process that it takes to receive the gorgeous Holland flowers I crave too, give me so much appreciation. I hope this gives you a glimpse of what I got to experience.

And, if you live in the United States and want to experience Holland flowers and are wondering how you can enjoy these blooms as well, just send me a quick email! I'd love for you to experience the same amazingness that I do in my studio when I get these beautiful flowers from Holland.