Spring Blooming Bulbs from Van Engelen, Inc.
It’s time to start getting all those spring blooming bulbs in the ground!
As many of you know, every autumn we plant thousands and thousands of bulbs at my Bedford, New York farm. A good number of them are from one of my favorite sources, Van Engelen Inc., a wholesale family-run flower bulb business located in Bantam, Connecticut. Van Engelen and its sister company, John Scheepers, are overseen by Jo-Anne van den Berg-Ohms, the daughter of Jan S. Ohms, who acquired both businesses and developed them into what they are today. This week, we visited Van Engelen, Inc. to pick up our order and to learn a little more about this amazing facility.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Van Engelen Inc., and John Scheepers, Inc. are located in the Litchfield, Connecticut borough of Bantam. Jo-Anne’s father, Jan Ohms, acquired the Van Engelen flower bulb company in the 1970s and created the first real wholesale flower bulb catalog available to private residences in the US. Jan then acquired John Scheepers in 1991 in order to keep his uncle’s flower bulb business in the family.
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- The Van Engelen warehouse, which has undergone several renovations and expansions over the years, is filled with thousands and thousands of bulbs that are stored in a temperature and humidity controlled space. More than 100-employees work at the two companies, carefully taking orders, and shipping the bulbs around the country to professionals and ambitious residential gardeners.
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- All the bulbs are stacked by type and variety and then hand-packed for shipment.
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- The warehouse is extremely clean and organized. Quality control is one of its top priorities – every shipment of bulbs is checked multiple times before it is sent to its final destination.
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- All the bulbs are shipped in boxes specially made with holes for proper air circulation around the bulbs.
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- Bulbs need to be packaged very carefully to ensure they are kept in the best conditions during transport. Van Engelen uses netted sacs, paper bags and plastic pouches depending on the bulbs’ humidity needs.
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- The bags are also designed with a number of holes for air circulation and humidity control – some have more, some have less.
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- This is a single Amaryllis bulb wrapped in a burlap bag for gifting. This bulb is Amaryllis ‘Temptation’ – a white flower with splashes of raspberry to crimson on its upper petals, less on its lower petals, a dark scarlet-red starburst and a pink-to-white stamen – a nice gift for any gardener.
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- Some of the bulbs I selected this year include Dutch Iris ‘Silvery Beauty’. All bulbs should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place until they are planted. We are storing these in my gym building garage along with our other bulb orders.
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- ‘Silvery Beauty’ has pale flax-blue standards and cream-white falls with narrow golden-yellow blotches. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- I also ordered some Corydalis ‘Solida’. I usually order bulbs in batches of 20, 50, 100, 500, and a thousand.
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- Corydalis ‘Solida’ are Scandinavian woodland tubers with delicate, pink-purple flowers and gray-green foliage. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- This slightly larger bulb is Lily ‘Conca D’Or’. It is packed in a paper bag with a bit of medium to ensure a dry environment.
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- ‘Conca D’Or’ produces bright lemon-yellow flowers with ivory petal margins. The huge, waxy flowers have slightly recurved petals, elongated anther-tipped stamens, and a light fragrance. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- This unusual shaped bulb is Erythronium ‘Pagoda’. ‘Pagoda’ is a very reliable cultivar.
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- Look how pretty they are in bloom. Commonly known as trout lily or dogtooth violet, Erythronium ‘Pagoda’ is a robust hybrid cross of Erythronium tuolumnense and Erythronium revolutum, and native to the west coast. It has received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- This is Oxalis adenophylla. The bulbs are actually whiskery corms, and as it matures over time, it may naturalize by corm offsets.
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- Also referred to as wood sorrel, when in bloom Oxalis adenophylla has dainty, five-petaled, white to lilac-pink flowers with dark purple centers on wiry stems. This long-lasting, deer- and rodent-resistant naturalizer is a great seasonal ground cover. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- This lily variety is ‘Casa Blanca’.
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- These are spectacular white Oriental lilies. ‘Casa Blanca’s’ huge, outward facing, white flowers have narrow green starburst centers and are richly fragrant. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- Lily ‘Josephine’ is another large bulb – also packed in paper bags to keep them dry.
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- ‘Josephine’ has huge, pale ballerina-pink flowers adorned with whisper pink-white mid-veins and a sprinkling of raspberry freckles. These smell wonderfully sweet when in bloom. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- Another lily is ‘Pretty Woman’. Before removing them from the bag, Ryan will check it off on a master inventory list to ensure we picked up everything we ordered.
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- ‘Pretty Woman’ is another towering Orienpet that’s actually new to Van Engelen. It has huge flowers that open to pale yellow with soft pink petal edges. It matures to ivory-white and finally bright white with green nectary furrows. Their huge, waxy flowers have slightly recurved petals, elongated anther-tipped stamens, and a subtle, fruity fragrance. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- These bulbs are Lily ‘Lady Alice’.
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- This semi-Turk’s Cap Aurelian Lily has gently reflexed, outward-facing, snow-white flowers with a glowing orange center, burnt-orange raised papillae and long, elegant pale green stamens. (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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- And of course, I got more narcissus, one of my favorite flowers – this is Narcissus ‘Ziva’.
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- This longtime favorite yields large trusses of fragrant, snow-white flowers with up to three stems per bulb when grown indoors. I can’t wait to see all the beautiful flowers come spring. Enjoy planting your bulbs this weekend! (Photo courtesy of Van Engelen, Inc.)
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