While the Dutch East and West India Companies may no longer be around, the reign of the Dutch in the flower market still persists. Currently, Holland is still the titan of tulip production with an annual worth of one billion dollars (Stewart 109). Geographically, Holland is located barely above sea level. In order to allow more room for growing tulips, the Dutch drained lakes and built construction canals, expanding the acreage of agricultural land to more than 50,000 acres. The bulb fields bring in more than 1.5 million tourists a year and Holland occupies more than 65% of the world market in the production of tulip bulbs.
Gerbera daisies are also a very popular flower among florists and growers alike. Native to Africa, Asia, and South America, it is the fourth most popular flower sold at the Dutch market and Americans alone buy over 200 million stems a year. Gerbera daisies established themselves in the floral business during the 1980s when bright colors and clean, modern shapes were fashionable and they still continue to be very popular. Terra Nigra, a company based in the Netherlands, has been breeding gerberas and roses for over 40 years (Terra Nigra). With the variety of color options available, it's no wonder why many people, consumers, florists, and growers alike, fall in love with the happy gerbera.
Not only do tulips and gerberas account for much of what is sold on the Dutch market, but roses also have a hefty stake in the flower market. Roses alone account for over $700 million worth of trade, double the amount that is spent on the number two bestseller, chrysanthemums. The U.S. alone makes up about half of the worldwide demand for roses by buying about 1.5 millions stems a year. Native to China, northern Europe, and the United States, a true wild rose has five petals and grows only in shades of red or pink. However, a florist rose (one that has been bred) appears to have many petals in a wide variety of colors. In reality, it too has just five true petals with the rest of the petals being modified stamens (though one couldn't tell the difference of petals by looking). The hybridizing of roses began in 18th century Europe and eventually, floral designers were given an engineered rose with a higher petal count and a longer vase life, as opposed to a fragrant smelling, five-petaled wildflower that one probably wouldn't even recognize as a true rose.
For centuries, it [the rose] was something beautiful and romantic and wild. Eventually, in our own crude way, we started to cultivate it, selecting for the brightest color and the most elegant shape, figuring out how to grow it indoors and make it bloom in winter. But now, just in this last century, roses have become science experiments, lab rats. Now the perfect rose is one that can live in a factory and be fed by a machine. It is built to suit the needs of the grower, not the lover. Does that change anything...Does it kill romance? (Stewart 133).
Stewart, Amy. Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2007.
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