The Netherlands, commonly known as Holland, is the world’s leading exporter of flowers and ornamental plants, despite its small geographic size. The country’s flower industry is built on centuries of horticultural expertise, innovative technology, and ideal growing conditions. Understanding the different flower-growing regions reveals the sophisticated geography behind Dutch floriculture dominance.
The Dutch Flower Industry Overview
The Netherlands produces over 12 billion cut flowers annually and controls approximately 50% of the global flower trade. This remarkable achievement stems from advanced greenhouse technology, efficient logistics, strategic location for European distribution, world-leading auction systems, and generations of specialized horticultural knowledge passed down through family businesses.
The Westland Region
Location and Significance
The Westland, located in South Holland province between The Hague and Rotterdam, is often called the “glass city” due to its vast expanse of greenhouses. This region is the historical heart of Dutch horticulture and remains the country’s most concentrated greenhouse area, covering thousands of hectares.
What’s Grown Here
The Westland specializes in year-round greenhouse production including tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers alongside flowers. Major flower crops include roses (the region produces millions of stems weekly), gerberas in numerous colors and varieties, orchids (particularly Phalaenopsis), potted plants and houseplants, and chrysanthemums.
Characteristics
The region benefits from proximity to the port of Rotterdam for import of supplies and export of products, mild coastal climate with moderate temperatures, advanced greenhouse technology including geothermal heating and LED lighting, and a dense cluster of suppliers, auction houses, and service providers creating a complete ecosystem.
The Aalsmeer Region
Location and Significance
Located just southwest of Amsterdam in North Holland, Aalsmeer is synonymous with the global flower trade. It’s home to Royal FloraHolland’s main auction house, the largest flower auction in the world, where millions of flowers change hands daily.
What’s Grown Here
The immediate Aalsmeer area and surrounding communities produce a diverse range including roses in countless varieties, tulips (both cut flowers and bulbs nearby), lilies, alstroemerias, gypsophila (baby’s breath), various seasonal flowers, and potted plants.
Characteristics
The region features the massive FloraHolland auction complex covering 990,000 square meters, proximity to Schiphol Airport enabling rapid global distribution, a concentration of breeding companies and propagation facilities, and excellent transport infrastructure connecting to all of Europe.
The Bollenstreek (Bulb Region)
Location and Significance
The Bollenstreek, or “Bulb District,” stretches along the coast between Haarlem and Leiden in South Holland. This is the world’s most famous bulb-growing region, producing the iconic Dutch tulip fields that attract millions of tourists each spring.
What’s Grown Here
This region specializes in bulb production rather than cut flowers, though many bulbs are forced for cut flower production. Primary crops include tulips (hundreds of varieties), daffodils and narcissus, hyacinths, crocuses, lilies (bulbs), gladiolus, and various other spring-flowering bulbs.
Characteristics
The region features the famous Keukenhof Gardens, the world’s largest flower garden showcasing bulb varieties, sandy, well-drained soil ideal for bulb cultivation, fields that create spectacular color displays in April and May, and a concentration of bulb breeding companies developing new varieties.
The Noord-Holland (North Holland) Region
Location and Significance
Beyond Aalsmeer, North Holland contains numerous flower-growing municipalities including Haarlemmermeer, Langedijk, and areas around Hoorn and Enkhuizen.
What’s Grown Here
This diverse region produces cut flowers including tulips and other bulb flowers, roses and gerberas in greenhouses, summer flowers like sunflowers and zinnias, potted plants and bedding plants, and vegetable plants (tomatoes, peppers) alongside flowers.
Characteristics
The region features reclaimed polder land with rich soil, good water management systems, proximity to Amsterdam and auction facilities, and a mix of traditional open-field growing and modern greenhouse operations.
The Venlo Region (Limburg)
Location and Significance
Located in the far southeast of the Netherlands near the German border, Venlo has emerged as a major horticultural center, particularly for trade with Germany and central Europe.
What’s Grown Here
Venlo and surrounding areas in Limburg specialize in potted plants and houseplants, orchids, anthurium, roses and other cut flowers, young plants and cuttings for other growers, and vegetables in greenhouses.
Characteristics
The region features the FloraHolland Venlo auction house serving the German market, strategic location for German and central European distribution, modern, highly automated greenhouse complexes, and a focus on sustainability with many energy-neutral greenhouses.
The Noordoostpolder (Northeast Polder)
Location and Significance
This region in Flevoland province, created from reclaimed land in the IJsselmeer, has become a significant flower-growing area since the mid-20th century.
What’s Grown Here
The area specializes in tulip bulb production (major bulb-growing area), seed production for flowers and vegetables, open-field cut flower production, and increasingly, modern greenhouse facilities.
Characteristics
The region features young, fertile soil ideal for intensive agriculture, flat, efficiently organized polder landscape, less urban pressure allowing for agricultural expansion, and excellent logistics connections.
The Boskoop Region
Location and Significance
Boskoop in South Holland is world-renowned for tree nursery products and ornamental plants rather than cut flowers, but it’s an essential part of the Dutch ornamental horticulture sector.
What’s Grown Here
This specialized region produces ornamental shrubs and trees, perennial plants, roses (garden varieties), bonsai and topiary, and aquatic plants.
Characteristics
The region features over 800 nurseries in a small area, specialization in woody ornamentals, extensive canal systems for irrigation and transport, and strong export focus, particularly to Germany and the UK.
Growing Technologies and Innovations
Dutch flower regions employ cutting-edge technologies that set global standards. Climate control systems manage temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels with precision. LED lighting extends growing seasons and influences flowering, while geothermal heating and combined heat and power (CHP) systems provide sustainable energy. Automated systems handle irrigation, fertilization, and even harvesting for some crops. High-wire growing systems maximize space utilization, and integrated pest management using beneficial insects reduces pesticide use. Computer systems monitor and control all aspects of greenhouse climate, and many regions are developing closed-loop systems that recycle water and nutrients.
Seasonal Production Patterns
Spring (March-May)
This is peak season for tulips, daffodils, and other bulb flowers. Outdoor fields burst into color, while greenhouse roses and other year-round crops maintain steady production.
Summer (June-August)
Summer brings sunflowers, dahlias, and seasonal outdoor flowers, strong production of roses, gerberas, and chrysanthemums in greenhouses, and the processing and storing of flower bulbs for fall planting.
Autumn (September-November)
Autumn features chrysanthemums reaching peak production, preparation for winter growing with supplemental lighting, bulb planting for spring flowering, and continued year-round greenhouse production.
Winter (December-February)
Winter greenhouse production dominates with artificial lighting, early tulips and other bulbs forced in greenhouses, and preparation for spring outdoor production.
The Auction System
The Dutch flower regions are connected by the unique clock auction (veiling) system, though increasingly supplemented by direct sales and online platforms. Royal FloraHolland operates the main auction houses in Aalsmeer, Naaldwijk, Rijnsburg, Venlo, and Eelde. Flowers arrive early morning, are graded and processed, then sold via descending price clock auctions where buyers press buttons when the price is acceptable. Most flowers are sold and shipped the same day they’re harvested.
Sustainability Initiatives
Dutch growing regions are increasingly focused on environmental sustainability. Many operations are energy-neutral or energy-positive through solar panels, geothermal energy, and CHP systems. Water recycling systems capture and reuse 100% of irrigation water in many greenhouses. Integrated pest management minimizes chemical pesticide use through biological controls. The industry is working toward reduced carbon footprints through renewable energy and efficient logistics. Some greenhouses capture and reuse CO2 from nearby industries.
Economic Impact
The Dutch flower regions contribute significantly to the national economy, generating over €6 billion in annual export value. The sector employs tens of thousands directly in growing and related services. The regions attract agricultural technology companies, creating innovation hubs. Tourism to flower regions, especially during tulip season, brings additional economic benefits.
Challenges Facing the Regions
Despite success, Dutch flower regions face several challenges including high energy costs affecting greenhouse operations, competition from lower-cost producing countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Colombia), land pressure from urban expansion, particularly in the Randstad, strict environmental regulations requiring continuous innovation, labor shortages for specialized horticultural work, and climate change affecting both outdoor and greenhouse production.
Future Developments
The Dutch flower regions continue to evolve with vertical farming and urban greenhouse concepts, further automation and robotics in growing and handling, development of new, disease-resistant varieties through breeding, expansion of biological and organic production methods, blockchain and digital technologies for supply chain transparency, and increased focus on locally grown flowers for the domestic market.
Visiting the Flower Regions
For those interested in experiencing Dutch floriculture firsthand, several opportunities exist. Keukenhof Gardens (open March-May) showcases millions of bulbs in spectacular displays. The FloraHolland auctions in Aalsmeer offer visitor galleries where you can watch the world’s largest flower auction in action. Tulip routes through the Bollenstreek during April-May provide stunning field views. Various flower festivals occur throughout the regions in different seasons. Many growers offer farm visits and tours by appointment.
The flower-growing regions of Holland represent one of the world’s most sophisticated and successful horticultural systems. From the vast greenhouse complexes of the Westland to the colorful bulb fields of the Bollenstreek, each region has developed specialized expertise that contributes to Dutch dominance in global floriculture. The combination of ideal geography, centuries of knowledge, continuous innovation, and efficient logistics has created a flower industry that sets the standard for the world.
Whether you’re a professional in the industry, a gardening enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates beautiful flowers, understanding these regions provides insight into how the Netherlands became—and remains—the flower capital of the world.