MAY 2021
I recently jumped on the trend of picking my own flowers in a picking garden (pluktuin). With COVID limiting the amount of activities, visiting a picking garden has become all the rage. Because of the incredible popularity of the picking gardens the tulip season only lasted a short amount of time and most tulip picking gardens were empty by the beginning of may. Luckily, we still have lots of other flowers that we can pick in the upcoming months. In this blog post I have many recommendations for picking gardens for you!
My experience at Pluktuin La Fleur
Pluktuin La Fleur has several locations in the South-west part of the Netherlands. Their picking gardens are self service. You can take a scissors out of a box and cut the flowers yourself. Afterwards, you pay per flower by leaving cash in a box or using a QR-code. I visited the tulip picking garden in Noordgouwe in Zeeland, but you can also find La Fleur picking gardens in Yerseke, Serooskerke, ‘s-Heer Hendrikskinderen, Bergen op Zoom, Steenbergen and Hoogerheide. On the website you can check which flowers are currently in bloom in which picking garden. In the upcoming months you can expect to pick wildflowers, sunflowers, peonies, dahlias and lilies, depending on the season and availability. I paid € 0,30 per tulip, making this a very cheap activity. I did make the rookie mistake of picking very colorful tulips, which were already blooming. If you want to enjoy your flowers longer, you should pick flowers which are just about to pop. Besides this, I was very impressed with the quality of the tulips, the steels were super strong and the tulips still lasted over a week. It was super fun to pull the tulips from the ground and sometimes even the bulb came out.
Other picking gardens
Hanneke’s Pluktuin: One of the most popular picking gardens in the Netherlands is Hanneke’s Pluktuin in Biddinghuizen. Hanneke also has a beautiful greenhouse where you can buy a cup of coffee and something sweet. In April her tulip garden was so popular, that she sometimes had to shut it down to keep the activity COVID proof. Hanneke’s pluktuin currently is closed but it will open up again during summertime with the summer picking garden, where you can expect to pick wildflowers and dahlias. Hanneke is very active on Instagram, so you can follow her to check out which flowers can be picked. Hopefully, we can do more activities in summertime, so the picking garden will be a little less popular. I want to check it out for sure!
Picking garden Holland: This picking garden is also known as Annemieke’s Pluktuin and it is located in the flower region in Hillegom. Annemieke also had to close early during tulip season because of its popularity. I am sure many mothers were disappointed to hear that they were out of tulips on Mother’s day (we definitely were). Annemieke uses a reservation system during the COVID crisis. She will open up again in summer for the summer flowers and you can also follow her on Instagram.
Plutuin Fleurabeille: This picking garden in ‘s Hertogenbosch is just about to open up for the summer season in June. On their website you can find information about a subscription with which you can weekly pick flowers. Fun fact: you can also buy homemade honey at Fleurabeille.
Pluktuin ‘t Voortje: This picking garden is located in Mierlo and will open up for the summer season on June 1. As this one is located closely to Eindhoven I will definitely visit it. In this picking garden you will not pay per flower, but you pay by the perimeter of the steels at the bottom. Amongst others you can pick cornflowers, poppies and lupins.
Pluktuin De Langendam: De Langedam is located in Waspik and will also open from June-October for the summer flowers. At this picking garden you can take a bucket and fill it up with flowers. A full bucket with flowers costs € 12,50. This picking garden also has a B&B, so if you want to enjoy the flower field for a full weekend, that is also a possibility.
