Laughter, Lilacs, and Lifelong Memories: Our Dutch Flower Adventure

Episode 279: Get ready for a heartwarming ride! Vonda is joined by flower friends Tim Farrell AIFD and Julie Poeltler AIFD as they share stories (and lots of laughs) from their unforgettable trip to Holland. From wandering endless tulip fields  to creating floral art and making new lifelong memories, this episode is a celebration of friendship, flowers, and the simple joy of adventure. Come for the blooms, stay for the love and laughter!

Listener Takeaways:

• How seeing flower fields in person transforms your appreciation for each stem of flowers.
• A reminder to make time for joyful experiences, because life (and flowers) move fast.
• How small moments — like a shared meal or a canal cruise — become the memories you cherish most.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

It was like all of us, like you said, kids in a candy store. We all had a reaction of ooze and ahs.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm flying solo here this morning with a couple very good friends. Tim Farrell. Welcome. Glad you're here to join me.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hi, Vonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

And Julie Poeler. Hi, Julie.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Thanks, eels, for having me today.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Thanks for coming back, you guys. Well, we just returned from an amazing adventure. We were in the Netherlands for a week, all three of us, and let's see, that would be 15 other people because we're 18 total. It was just an amazing trip. It was called the Dutch Adventure. And Julia, I'm going to start with you because you were very instrumental in putting this whole thing together.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Well, my goal in life is as I've come to this point in my life, I want to travel with some of my floral friends because we only get to see ourselves once a year. And I'm afraid as we turn into our next season of our life, we won't see each other. Helen Miller really was the instigator, not myself. I was just her backup. And we made a conscious decision that we were going to ask our flower friends to travel together. And then maybe we'd get to do it again. So that way, as we age a little bit, we'll still get to see our friends in a wonderful time of just enjoying many, many things about flowers across the world. So Helen Miller and I talked a couple years ago, and Lois Wallace, who is an AIFD member, she did our travel 20 years ago when we went to Germany. And Helen and her were together in Arizona, I think, or they saw each other. And Helen approached her. And then in Chicago, when we were at AIFD convention, the three of us were together. And so we were going to do it for 2024, but Helen and I felt that it wasn't enough time to give to everybody and to get a hold of everybody. So we waited until this year to roll it out and we called her friends.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

So did you brainstorm the things that you wanted to do when you were on this adventure? Like you said some things, Helen did, and Lois said, Oh, this would be really great things to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yes. We sort of told her that we wanted to go to Alzmere to see the market. And we knew we wanted to take a floral design class because we did that when we went to Germany. We were with uh Gregor. And so we knew we wanted a floral design class. Then we just sort of let Lois go on her merry way. And then she would give us a little feedback where she's going. Helen gave her some information. I did, and I think on the last day, um, she said something about the flower parade and something else. And I voted, I said, absolutely the flower parade. Oh I I really love that. I'm really glad that that was our ending. That was good.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Oh, it was just fabulous. It was just fabulous. So let's do a little bit of overview of how the week went. I'm gonna do that and then let's all just comment on what you think. You know, it's like so. First, we started with the tour of Amsterdam, that city canal cruise, right? So we just kind of got acclimated to the environment.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Well, I thought that that Amsterdam was an incredible city to see. Being from the States, our sense of history is 200, almost 250 years in the oldest of places. But being there and seeing buildings that were five, six hundred years old, and then learning about how this entire city was a marshland that they kind of dug up the dirt, made heaps out of it, put buildings on it, and what remained were the canals, and that became a mode of travel and transportation and a way to move goods through the city and to ports. The entire thing just amazed me. And, you know, sitting on one of those little tiny river cruise boats, kind of going for the canals, was really luxurious and kind of a fun way to see, you know, the architecture without having to be the driver and looking around. It was really kind of nice to be the passenger and really take it all in, both visually and with the senses and seeing boats go by with beautiful bunches of tulips on them and the beautiful dining in the restaurants outside. It was just a great experience and so different than most things that we're used to seeing here in the States.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

And I think we all learned at that point to watch out for bicycles.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Oh my gosh, the number of bicycles in Amsterdam. I think that's what I realized the first day is like, wow, the mode of transportation here is truly a bicycle. And they had stoplights for the bicycles, and and our guide kept saying, watch out for the bikes. And she was right. Julie, we almost got nailed a couple times.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah, they have the right-of-way. They said that they have the right-of-way. But I'm with Tim. The construction of the buildings that are built, I think, on beachwood. I mean, the water has to retain its certain level because they're built on sand and wood. Some kind of wood, yes, some type of wood. And some of them they they told us how it was sort of leaning a little bit because of of the water not being in this place. And it talked about the hook, the hook on outside the building. So when they brought the furniture in, because there's only certain width of the stairway and the width of the windows, and they have to bring the furniture in. Now I understand why IKEA is so phenomenal because I could never figure out why IKEA had this. But now it makes so much sense. It makes so much sense what why they design their furniture the way they do. Yeah, they have to take that whole window out. And there's no worsted-sized beds or king-sized beds at all.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

And even in the hotels, they had two little beds they put together to make a queen, you know, and you're like, what? But now you understand. You understand that.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

And later in the evening, when we were walking around, we were by the Anne Frank house after we left and we were walking. It was such a beautiful day. How many people don't have patios, but they open up their doors, they come out, they have a table and chairs and a glass of wine. How many times we walk past many doors and they enjoy the outside as people were walking by? They don't shelter themselves to a porch to the back because they don't have that.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Yeah, I forgot about that, Julie. They were just like outside on their stoop and they're there just with maybe their little cat and having some wine. That was really cute. And Frank House was really something. We did that that first night, too, some several of us. And uh Tim, I know Bernadette went later in the week, but wow, that was you just you just have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, I unfortunately did not have the time to go. I had only gotten her ticket for later in the week when we had the class booked. But I did go to visit the house itself on that first day. I just went for a walk and went to the house just to see it, to be able to say I've been there and just see part of history. But Bernadette was extremely moved by the experience and and thought it was very powerful.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Yeah, it was powerful. I agree. Okay, so anything else for the first day? I mean, we had time on our own. It was fun to walk through the city. I think we did 19,000 steps that day building our little team. So we we covered a lot of area for sure. So then the next day we went to the open air museum, Arnhem, open air museum. That reminded me, for people who are in the Midwest, of a living history farm kind of thing, right? Because it was an actual working farm with the windmill and everything. So I thought that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

I thought that was great. The way they uh I don't want to say train their trees, but how they propagate their trees and how they make them. So they it's so interesting how they use space, the whole land of the Netherlands. I just was always amazed by the space and what they do with such a small space to create such an impact.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Yeah, what she's talking about with the trees is they were fruit trees, typically, and they were trained so they were totally horizontal branches. And the horizontal branches, one would go into the other so that it would make almost like a fence, right? Isn't that what it would be?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

It was like a one plane front to back. It didn't have much depth to it. Everything stayed on one plane, and it was like these lateral sets of branches that went up, and it didn't make good fence. I thought they were very cool looking.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Yeah, I that was amazing to me. Yeah, that was a good observation. Then in the afternoon, we went to Robers and Van der Hogan wine cellar, and it was a museum, and it was a wine tasting, which to me was a very unusual mix for our Dutch adventure. You know, I was like, well, this is interesting. You never hear about Dutch wine, so to speak. And so I thought that was cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah, the guy, yeah, I forget his first name. He was incredibly interesting. And sure was. You know, for somebody, I don't know that much about wine to begin with, but to be able to tell us about the process and the history and everything and all the work that goes into a good bottle of wine, it it just definitely would make you appreciate it even more.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

I learned kind of how to taste wine, which I didn't know before. Just like, is it taste good or not? You know the truth.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

And I'm still swirl it one way and then you swirl it back the other way.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

You get a different and you understood why it had an oak taste to it because of the history and being in the barrel and how long. And anyway, it was kind of fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I agree. It was a beautiful place.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

So then on Wednesday, we went to the Palace Hetlow and the gardens there. The gardens again, those trees, Julie, against the brick walls were phenomenal just to see those. And then the gardens, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

What really impressed me, I did like those trees again. I to see them was wonderful, but what really impressed me was the miniature boxwood. And the hedges were only about, what would you say, maybe six inches high at the most, maybe five inches wide, and perfectly manicured. And I'm talking about very intricate designs, bordering the guards and making designs inside, separating out areas. When you looked at them from above, it almost looked like it was like a quilt or something because of the patterns that were created, but the precision that they were a head stack, I these people must be on top of these 24 hours a day, clipping little pieces off because it was just manicured so beautifully. It was.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

They said they had a special tool that went along there to take care of it. I wonder how many times a day they had to do that, or once a day.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

I know I would think so, because it w there didn't seem to be a leaf out of place. It was just incredible, it was impeccable.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, yeah. And then our guide was telling us that one side was the boxwood, but the other side was a Japanese, is it Ilex?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Oh, really? I didn't hear that part. Wow. Good.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yeah, because the boxwood had a worm and a moth that attacks it. And the uh the one from Japan does not. But the one from Japan has to be cut more times than the boxwood. So it would take more time to manicure it on the boxwood. So that's why they there's two different colors of green, one's darker than one's lighter. Oh, no kidding.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

And if I remember correctly, was it one side the king's side and the other side the queen's side of the garden?

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Wow. Yes. Yeah. Well, the king's side had a lot of just green space too, so they could play croquet, I think, and games over there. Anyway, it was absolutely gorgeous, and then to go through the palace itself and to hear the history.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

And so it was the other thing that amazed me about the garden was the fountains to think that the engineers of that time were able to figure out a way to let gravity do its thing to let the water go down through. They said like pipes that kept graduating to smaller sizes as they went from a higher level to a lower level, so that the water actually would like spray out of the ground. And some of those fountains had some pretty good height to them. But yeah, so to me, that was something like, well, we think about just plugging in a pump and making it happen. These people really had to think things out to make that work.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yes. You know, you think we're smart, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I know.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

And then they told us how some of them were covered to protect them from the frost, and that because of their age of the statues.

SPEAKER_03 12:38

We kept saying, What are those tents on those statues for?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Amazing. That was amazing. I've never even heard of that place. That was so big. That was a large area.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

It was beautiful. And the the residence was just incredible as far as the craftsmanship, the marble that was inside, the painting, and and how some of those like the murals on the walls are holding up hundreds of years is just fascinating. And the flowers in the palace, weren't they beautiful too? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Oh my gosh. We're like, we wanted that job, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

We wanted to be able to provide the flowers. That was the first time I've ever been at a museum that you got your own little headset and you could hear it and walk around and view. And you weren't with a guide, but you could take your time and and I've never had that before.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

So I'm yeah, we had it there, and then we also had it at Anne Frank. We had to stand. I really like that. Yeah, that was nice. The self-guided tour on that.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

I didn't use the headsets. I have enough voices inside my head already. I didn't need to. That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I know then when we climbed the tower, and then we went and climbed all the way to the rooftop. That was that was just pretty cool. Yeah, the view there. Oof.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yeah. Yeah. That was awesome. So then next, the historic Alzmere. We went, oh, the big greenhouses we went through that notice the old clock from the old Alzmere market, right? When they did the auction.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

And we went through all those greenhouses and they showed us beautiful lilacs and kind of the history of growing. But then we got to sit there and see how the old clock worked, how they used to bid on flowers, which now is obviously all digital. But that was really cool.

unknown 14:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

I know that was the way they took the bushes. Like they actually physically dig out the bushes, they take them out to an island, they leave them on these islands with these canals all around for part of the season. Then when they need to force them, they bring them back, they undig them from there, bring them back to the greenhouse, plant them in the greenhouse, and then force them to bloom. And they said each bush only gets maybe 25 stems of lilac on them. And you're thinking, oh my gosh. You know, I hated paying three or four dollars a stem for lilac before. Now I totally understand it. There's a lot of work that goes behind getting that Dutch lilac to bloom in a forced condition. And it gave me new respect for that as well, too.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yeah, because after we went through those greenhouses, we went on the canals and, like you're saying, out to those islands, and people could buy those islands of those. And like, oh my gosh. But yeah, all those plants just out there waiting to be forced. I thought that was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And the fragrance was wonderful in those little.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Oh my gosh. Walking into that room where they had the vases of the cut lilac. Yeah, that was that was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Well, speaking of fragrance, then on Thursday, that's when we got on the bus and we went cross country and we saw our first field of flowers. And the bus driver said, Do you want to get out? And we're like, Of course we do. And that was, I think that was my most memorable moment right there. We got out there and stood in front of the field, and it was hyacinths. And I was like, this must be what heaven's like. It was just like heavenly, just gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

And Vonda, back to you with that. You just said that was your favorite memory. That was, I have my list here in front of me. That was my number one, too. And there was just something about it that was very guttural to me, where you just like you felt it in your soul. Well, first of all, being with this group of people, we could not have had a better group of 18 people to be with. I knew 14 of them before I even got on the bus. So, like, that was a nice advantage. But people sharing the same passion that we have and and love of flowers, and like literally, you hear everybody gasping as the bus driver turned the corner and you see this, these fields. And I mean, we all have all seen each other's pictures. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice. The fields just go forever and ever and ever. And these patchworks of pink and then like lavender and white. And all of a sudden, you smell before the bus driver even opens the door, just smell the hyacinth. And we're like all like little kids in the candy shop, like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. We couldn't wait to get off the bus. And then just seeing everybody's pure joy standing out there in the field. To me, that was like one of not just one of my most memorable moments of the trip, but one of my most memorable moments anywhere because of the incredible passion and joy that was felt by the people surrounding me. And I mean, I literally had tears in my eyes. It was just so moving, like, wow. You know, part of your soul was like, hey, I'm home. You know, like he kind of felt that right there. It was, it was very cool. It was a great moment.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

It was a great moment. But Tim, just to reiterate what you said, I just sat back on the bus and I said, ooh, oh, but then I I listened to everybody else, and it was just so incredible to listen. It was like all of us, like you said, kids in a candy store. We all had a reaction of oohs and ahs. And it was just great. I still get goosebumps now talking to you about it because it was just so incredible to hear us all react that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

It was pretty moving. It was good.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

It sure was.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Yeah, and then when we got back in the bus and then went longer, and then we got to the Kuchenhof Gardens.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I mean, just walking through. And I had no expectations. I didn't know what I was gonna see. I didn't research any of it before I went, I didn't know what to expect. And when I got there, I was just so overwhelmed. I was brought to tears. I came around this corner and I was brought to tears, these orange tulips. And they were just laying there with all alongside all these other colors and the pattern they chose to put a hundred bulbs, to put 500 bulbs in a placement, to put a thousand bulbs in a placement. It was just so moving the patterns of color.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Yeah, it really was. And then there was that one specific greenhouse that we went into, and then they had the plots of the what there must, what did you count? There were 50 or 100 bulbs.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

100 bulbs in a in a square.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Yeah. They were both different varieties, and they were all blooming. And I think we we all sat there and I know we were in tears because it was like so moving to see so many different varieties, so many different head size of tulips. It the whole thing was just took us back.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

I mean, it did me any more. It when I got back to talk to my husband about it, I said, Chuck, in Iowa we grow corn. In Netherlands, they grow bulbs. And I said, That's exactly what the fields remind me of. I mean, we grow corn here, but they grow blooming, beautiful blooming plants.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Yeah. Yeah. One of the really eye-opening things for me was to go into that it was the part of the history of the gardens and learn how they planted bulbs four deep so that they would continue to bloom for those two weeks. I didn't realize you could plant bulbs that deep. So there was a bulb and then there was another bulb on top, and then so they were four deep so that would continue the blooming process in those gardens. No idea that.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I just thought that was just fascinating. So when we saw those in those patterns outside, do they they pull those bulbs, let them rest, and they or do they leave them and they come up next year? No, I don't think they come up next year. I think they take them out. They take them out and then they plant them the next color palette in the fall.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

You're saying to plant them in the fall to come up again in spring. They must. That works, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, back to one of the things you said about how you grow corn in Iowa and they grow bulbs there. The one thing I didn't realize is when I've seen those pictures of the fields, those magnificent, huge, go-forever fields of tulips and hyacinths and daffodils. We saw daffodils till we'll never see it, you know, millions of daffodils. None of that is used for cut flower production. None of those flowers are they're all just there to produce bulbs all around the world. Yes. I was shocked when I heard that. It kind of made me sad a little bit to think, oh my god, all these flowers, they're just getting they're getting beeheaded. As soon as the flowers bloom, they take the heads off the top and let the the foliage regenerate the bulb. But it kind of made me sad, but it also was just a staggering number to think of, oh my gosh, look at all these, and none of these are being done for cut flower production. It's all just for the bulbs. And then you had quietly experience.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

And then you had Kiki talking about their decapitated.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yes, the decapitated flower. Our guide was like your guides were great. We had Kiki, who was a Dutch woman who was just a character. She could have been a cartoon. She was so colorful and fun to be with. And we had like the best bus driver in the whole world, a young guy from well, Jacob, right? From Dolan Bus Company. Oh my gosh. This guy, he became one of us. Like we just got it, took him underway. Okay, you're part of the family now, but A really nice young man and very informational about the area. Got us to places in this big bus. You wouldn't think he'd be able to make a turn. And that guy navigated that bus everywhere he could. So yeah, we were fortunate with the bus people. We were.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

We're really fortunate. After we wound down that day, that was such a whew, I think we were just so I'm almost exhausted because there was so much overload, emotional overload, I think that day. So that that evening we just had it on our own. I don't, I think Julie, we just hung in the room. I don't know. But then the next day was exciting because we actually got to go to Alzmere and see everything that happens under almost like three football fields.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

It used to be the largest building in the world, they told us. Yeah. It's huge.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

It was just amazing to watch the production as things went through the auction and then they had to divide them off and go to all the different vendors who had purchased those and how then they had to go and get them shipped away. I mean, it was just mind-boggling, really.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yeah, to me it looked like something out of Star Wars, the action that was happening on the floor, because there were these carts going through on trolleys that were going into the auction, then coming out of the auction, then they got separated depending on who bought what. And they told us the carts that had the drivers on them that were buzzing everywhere and around each other. They said there's 3,000 of those cart drivers on the floor on any given day.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

That to me was amazing to think about that.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

You know, they said there are 6,000 employees at work.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

Yeah, 6,000 employees at work for the Osmo market. Because what we were seeing was post auction, and then there were others in the auction themselves, and then there were others that were shipping, you know, packing ship. It was just like crazy. How'd you like to do that payroll? Six thousand.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Oh my gosh. You know what I couldn't help thinking of while we were there though was the three of us, I think, we all opened our shops in the 80s. Is that correct? Or around that time? Correct. Which was pretty much that whole like surge of Dutch flowers into the U.S. at that time. So, you know, we hadn't seen Gerbers before that. We hadn't really seen Astra Maria and some of the hybrid lilies and the available bit of tulips all year round. And I thought, oh my gosh, how many flowers have we touched or gone through that have come through this place over all these years? And I really wish I had seen that 40 years ago, too. Me too. Think about where all these came from and how they came to one place and how they got to me. It was just, it was fascinating to see the process.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

It was, but it also made us realize the price of flowers when we're looking at carnations, the tulips, the roses, everything that went through there, how many times it was touched and maneuvered and here and there, and you're like, oh my gosh. And sometimes we're like complaining about one or two cents more that people are having to pay. Well, you can see how much work goes into that from cultivating the flower, but then getting it to the market, and then they have to grade them and decide when they're going on the auction and then how they go out. Oh my gosh, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

It was eye-opening.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Yeah, eye-opening. That's it. I think we'd probably all of us there won't complain about another cent or two on flowers for a while. Then after that we went to another wholesaler, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:34

An incredible wholesaler. I mean, hands down, the largest inventory I've ever seen at a wholesale house, as far as hard goods and the plant inventory was just awful. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I mean, and a lot. I mean, like some plants that I thought were rare, they would have carts and carts and carts of them. Where it's like most wholesalers in the U.S., you know, if they have a plant department, you might see five or six of a certain thing, or if it's a certain holiday, you'll see a couple of hundred or something. They had carts and carts of everything, it seemed like it was just it was unreal.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

It really was. And I was surprised because it seemed like there was more plants and hard goods than there really were fresh flowers in that cooler. But you could tell that the fresh flowers like must have gone in and out really fast. Yeah, I think so. Because it was a nice size cooler, but the plants were phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

It was crazy. Yeah. We we spent time there and then we went to Margipen.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

It was actually margin par.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Which was really cool. That was at the tour. But then they also had a machine that filled the buckets. That's what it was. It would pick up the bucket, filled, and put it on the conveyor belt to go and use for processing. So there was a lot of automation there that I hadn't seen before, which was pretty cool. Yeah. And then we got back on the bus and got to go for our class at the Burma Institute. Wow, that was fun, huh?

SPEAKER_00 27:03

I loved it. I loved it. That was fun. So it's funny. I was wondering what kind of a class it was going to be because a lot of the people that we were in this class or in this tour with were people pretty experienced in the floral design field. I would not have wanted to teach this class myself at all. I would have been intimidated. But Mike Burma, his mom is Jacqueline. So Jacqueline and Mike run this school, very well-renowned, all over the world floral school there. And Mike is a young guy and really smart and really great, fabulous designer. He came up with this project of teaching us an armature with wire that I've never really learned myself before. So I was really happy. Like when we walked in the lobby, there was one of the pieces sitting there in this armature, and I'm like, oh, I wish we were doing something like that. So I was thrilled when he said that's what we're doing. So it was it was a really good learning experience for me. So obviously you can teach an old dog new tricks, which is good, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:57

She had all the doll dogs there to teach the tricks.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

But I really I really enjoyed the challenge and I was happy with the result too, as well.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Yeah, and I think it was really eye-opening for us. We took what we would call boho and kind of interpreted that into what we're doing today and and gave it a name and gave it reason, you know. And I think that was what was really helpful is that there was a reason or purpose for the placement of all those flower stems that we're thinking this nonsense design style that we see all over. There's a reason for it. And I'm excited to actually do some videos on that and explain it because it really was that moving to me. It was so educational. I don't know, it was one of those things that was worth every bit of time that we spent there. And he was such a good teacher.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

And I think he did a great job explaining the use of the Fibonacci theory in that design. I've heard a lot of people talk about. I mean, I'm a math person, I love math to begin with, so I kind of get it, but I don't think any of us totally get it, you know. But in that application, he broke it down to how to use that in this design, and it made so much sense. And it really is something that'll stick with me as far as a nice learning opportunity that I can use when I teach and when I go out forward, or just in my own work, you know, when I'm creating something, I'll look at it differently, maybe, and think of how to apply that in a specific sense to the design I'm doing. But I think Mike did a fabulous job with that.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

But we don't usually think of the Fibonacci theory in a horizontal application where it was in this one. Normally we see that mostly applied when we're looking at vertical. So when it was that horizontal, I think Julie and I looked at each other and like this light bulb went off like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

That's really something.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

And not only just horizontal, but as like three-dimensional, like front, like you have as we turn it on its side, look at it from this way to this way, look at how this works too. I'm like, oh, okay. There were like you said, there were some light bulbs going off. It was fun.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. It was a great day, great day. And then Saturday, not to diminish that, then we went into Saturday and the flower parade. And Julie, I am so glad that you said that's what we have to do. Because it was so great, it was so great. It will I don't even know what to say. I mean, obviously the floats were phenomenal, you know, and fragrant. But when you saw those cars, I mean, now didn't you just want to go do your delivery van and just cover it with flowers?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Yeah. Exactly. And beautiful design work. I mean, oh, this is just it wasn't it. There was a reason to every stem, its purpose that there was a reason for it. It was so beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

And the mechanics, try to figure out the mechanics of some of those, how those delphinium went straight out the back of that one vehicle and down the road and didn't get out of place. That they went like 26 miles with those those flowers on those vehicles and on those floats. And they're probably just as fresh the next day because we were told that the night before they did a night parade, and so they'd already been through it once. The mechanics just stuck in my mind, thinking, how did they do that? How did they do that?

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Yeah, and it was tractors and it was cars and it was buses and it was semis, it was it was uh little cars, big cars. They had one Tesla, and somebody told me, was it you, Vonda, that told me that they had to get a special permit in order for them to drive that Tesla during the day or during the week?

SPEAKER_03 31:47

Because Jacob driver was behind us. Jacob was saying that they had to have a special permit to have that Tesla because it was the the real sleek one.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

The truck. They have a certain restriction for cars. Oh wow. Or dimension of the car to be on the road. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 32:07

Yeah, but it was covered with flowers. It was beautiful. The way they did that in those boxes. Yeah, it really was. It was cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

The thing I loved about the parade was they had, of course, big floats. Oh, I mean, not as big as maybe the ones at our Rose Bowl parade here, but it reminded me of that look, and they were big and scaled. But I like the fact that it was a small town feeling too, because they said, like Vonda said, they go through this 27 miles, and each small town is having the celebration as this parade comes through. Bernette and I, while we had time to wait before the parade started, after we got our seats in the stands there, we went down and walked along the street through the little village, and there was kids out with like with little tables selling candy and like rice crispy treats. There was another table that was out that there was a home for disabled women that were selling candles that they made. But it just and everybody was just in a fun mood and talking to each other and just very friendly. And it it had that small town feeling of celebration to it, which was wonderful to experience in a different country.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Right. And then the band came up front and just got us all going. It was just so funny.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

That was fun.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

So fun. That was supposed to be the end. That was it. And we really had all afternoon yet. So I don't know who went to the bus driver and to our little friend Kiki and said, Can we go to the beach? Can we go somewhere else? And so they set us up to go to the beach, which was really cool. Like you said, the bus through these streets that you know you and I wouldn't think about. So we got to experience that and then on to this cheese factory and a place that they did made wooden shoes. So that was just a great ending to that week.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

And that gentleman that did the wooden shoes, he was so proud of his job. He was great. He was so great. He he was just proud of his job making wooden shoes.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

That was great. He was. He wasn't. That that was a real eye-opening for me because I didn't know that when they made those wooden shoes, if you're gonna get wooden shoes a half size bigger than you do, and then you wear lamb's wool socks, and you have to wear it for about three months, and then it will make those shoes just like bedroom slippers. They'll be just like you'll never want to take them off. I just thought that was cool. Anyway, and then the cheese.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

The cheese was really cutting through the one I bought home. It's good stuff. No pun intended, it's guda stuff.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Gouda, there you go. That's great. Yeah. Well, so let's go back to Tim. You and Julie both talk about that memorable moment. Was that really all three of us most memorable moment? Or was another one that stuck out to you, Julie? The the hyacinth field.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Oh, the hyacinth field, yes. The greenhouse, where the gentleman, when we were at the open air when we rode on the canals in the open air boat. Yes. Okay, whatever group I was in, the gentleman that did the grafting of the lilac, and he showed us how to do the lilac, that guy was so he was so proud of himself. I mean, he had an art and he had a gift, and how he grafted and he talked and about that whole greenhouse. So I I enjoyed that whole experience of that. Where the islands were and they grew the lilacs out there on the islands. That that gentleman went into the greenhouses.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

Yeah, that was a historic Alzmere with the canal crew. And his grandfather had worked in the greenhouse, right? And then he was like per generation. Yes, he was fascinated.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

I love that. I love that. And I loved the day that we went to lunch and we had those little omelets at that little omelet store. We had late lunch, and you and I went back. We had my little episode of losing my credit card, and Vonda was very good to go back to my hotel. We took another adventure, and we went back and made sure I had my credit card in my hotel room. And then we came back and then we went to lunch. And this cute little place was that was adorable, and they were so kind. That was that was cool.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

Yeah, that's right. So many things. How about you, Tim? What are the couple others really memorable?

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yes, the top one was with you. It was those fields. That was just really moving. Kuchenhof Gardens was probably number two for me because I I wasn't expecting much because I mean, for me, I have Longwood Gardens in my backyard practically. It's you know, 30 minutes from my house, and I've I've taught there. And that's been just rated as like number one garden in the world to go visit as far as the experience. I wasn't expecting much out of Kuchenhof. I was blown away as far as the scale of things and the the actual numbers. Like, I mean, even in one area, there was this bank of tulips on either side, and there was this river of Muskari that went down the middle. And it was this, it was literally like a blue river that went for hundreds of feet and wound in and out. I mean, I just was blown away by it. And I know that's only open for two months of the year, so maybe that's why it wasn't ranked as high as maybe some other places were, but yeah, that and like you said, seeing the varieties of flowers and like I like that one pavilion that had the tulip names in each one, you know. All those amaryllas and just the amaryllis. Oh, like yeah, oh, the amaryllis were just at the orchid house. There was different different things. Oh, just you could we couldn't even take it all in, you know. It was it was just so great. So that was number two. And number three for me was definitely that the auction. I mean, to see that production and the mechanics and all just again, I knew about it, I read about it, I've heard about it. It just totally blew off the charts any expectations I had. It was great. It was awesome, it was a fun group.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah. Well, and that was what I was gonna say. I agree with everything, but I think the other was the bus. Just the bus and the people, the interaction, and the friendships that were there. Like you said, do you just know all those people so well now? And it just it touches my heart. Just you just feel like you know everybody that was there so well. I mean, I don't think you can really imagine how you have friends that you spend time with, but Julie, you hit it. It's like, you know, as we get into a different season in our life and we meet everybody at AIFD or a place here or a place there, it's different than when you really are with them for six days, just really getting to know them and enjoy the laughter and the fun and sharing the love of flowers and our passion, as you mentioned, Tim, from that time. That was one of my best memories.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Along that lines, on a bonus for me was having my Bernadette with me for that. I mean, Bernadette has come to many industry events, but she only gets to see you people for like three hours, a dip, or this or that. Bernadette can't be a bit shy at first, but I think you've all seen that I wasn't lying when I said that. She is shy at first, but by the end of the week.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Oh my gosh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

She hasn't moved. So for me to be able to share her with you and vice versa was just great for me because it was like both my worlds kind of coming together, which was really fun.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

It was. She she was because I hadn't seen Bernadette like that for maybe years. I loved it that she was comfortable and she was one of us.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

And you guys all made her feel comfortable, which was great. So we had the best time. We loved it.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

And that's what I wanted. But the best, the best thing that happened, the best thing that happened for me was right at the end. And I kid you not, this absolutely happened. And I wanted it to happen, but I didn't know who was going to be the one that would tell me. But it was Tim. And he came up to me and he said, Julie, we we need the reunion travel in two years. And I go, and that's why we did it. And that's the best compliment. So that was great. So we're in. I'm in. We're in. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

All I can say is thank you so, so much for inviting me to be part of that group. It was just beautiful. It was a blast. We were the Americans that laughed our way through Southern Holland. And it was crazy Americans. I loved it, I loved it all. It was great.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

That was crazy Americans and our bus driver, and Kiki said we were the best group they've ever had. Now, maybe they tell everybody that, but I think she meant it.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

She was she was kind of tearing up when we were leaving.

SPEAKER_03 40:21

Yes, she was, and so was Jacob.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

We had fun.

SPEAKER_03 40:25

That was great. So thank you, Julie.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Thanks for getting us. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

And I felt bad because there were times where people asked me who couldn't come. But I think there was about eight other people that we had asked that they could not come. And uh we'll we'll ask them. Maybe we'll have a bigger group the next time. Who knows? Sounds great.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Thanks for joining me, you guys. This was great. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Thank you, guys.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

It was a great trip.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

So please come back and join us to discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.