At Coloríginz we have a wide assortment of the most beautiful flowers, roses and foliage. All these products are grown with love and passion by our amazing partners which are located all over the world. In our ‘Hello…’ series we speak with our partners about their companies, products, about what it means to be a business owner and how their company developed over time.
In this ‘Hello…’ edition we travel to the small Dutch town of Ter Aar, where ‘Zomervlinder’ is located. Zomervlinder is run by Ellen Akkerboom and her parents. From half May until the end of October, Zomervlinder grows Asters. In autumn and winter, the focus shifts to Helleborus. Zomervlinder is a breeding company. For more than 40 years, the family have been working on their trade. During this time, many Asters were ‘born’ in these greenhouses. Examples are the famous, double-flowered baby varieties, Aster Paquita and Aster Asteé.
Cross-breeding Asters
We arrive in a large greenhouse in which thousands of Asters grow in rows. In some rows, the flowers are still firmly in the buds. A few rows later, the plants have matured more and the brightly coloured flowers are already peeping out. Ellen walks us to the middle of the greenhouse, where about eight buckets full of the latest Asters tests are waiting for us on the walkway. Ellen proudly shows us one new variety after another and asks us to select our favourite variety. Which is, admittedly, very hard to pick. After all, there are dozens of beautiful Asters inside the buckets, each with a distinctive look. There are single-flowered and double-flowered varieties; Asters with gigantic flowers, others are smaller; some have a green heart, others have a yellow heart and don’t even get us started on the colours; we see purple, pink and some white varieties. 
Co-owner Ellen; “It is not our objective to send as many flowers to the auction as possible. We want to create the most beautiful Aster, but we also thoroughly examine whether this new variety is going to perform well on the market and is suitable for mass-cultivation”. When crossing and breeding new varieties, Zomervlinder starts with selecting the most beautiful varieties and tests its vase life. Other practical matters are also taken into account; such as whether the Asters fit well in a box for transportation, whether they are easily damaged and how many Asters can be grown on a meter of soil. When all these little details pass the test, the Asters are propagated via cuttings and tissue culture. The cuttings are sold and are cultivated by growers in countries such as Africa, South America and the Netherlands. A lot of time can pass between the ‘birth’ of a new species in the greenhouses of Zomervlinder and before the new variety is widely available and grown by growers worldwide.
For about six years now, Zomervlinder has been working with Coloríginz, about 40 to 60 percent of the production of Zomervlinder is sold via Coloríginz. Coloríginz also imports various Asters that have been originally crossbred by Zomervlinder and are now grown at farms worldwide. This is important for Zomervlinder and allows them to know what is happening on the market and how their products are performing across the board.
Dutch florists
Asters are becoming increasingly popular, also in the Netherlands. In the past, Ellen unfortunately noticed that Dutch florists didn’t really like Asters. The tipping point came a few years ago, when Zomervlinder introduced the ‘baby’ varieties and other small-flowered varieties to the market. More and more often, Ellen hears from florists that they are extremely fond of ‘the Asters with the small flowers’. It is safe to say that Zomervlinder’s breeding efforts are blossoming!
Remaining critical
Ellen loves her profession; at the same time, she always remains critical of her products. Nothing escapes her eye; the bud is too small, there is a spot of mildew on the leaves or the plant has a brown flower. But this love needed some time to grow; “During my youth and teenage years, I resented working at the farm. Yet over time, the interested in plants and gardening started to grow. I decided to join the company and followed several courses, such as a breeding,-, florist,-, photography,- and a landscaping course, I also learned English somewhere in between! To this day, I still can’t find something that is more fun and challenging than this.”
Zomervlinder is long from being done with Asters and Helleborus. Ellen; “These are flowers that have so many possibilities and potential in terms of breeding. The challenge is to get more out of them.” Ellen would love to see a lot more Asters being grown and sold worldwide; the potential is there. We couldn’t agree more! Based on the Aster tests we saw today at Zomervlinder, we are concluding that the future of the Aster is looking brighter than ever.
Don't forget to view our online Aster-selection from Zomervlinder available between May and October.
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