November 13, 2017 - VAN WINGERDEN GREENHOUSE VISITAll photos raw I just don’t have the energy/
November 13, 2017 - VAN WINGERDEN GREENHOUSE VISITAll photos raw I just don’t have the energy/time right now to clean them up. Story time! One of the first visits V and I ever made to this area, we promptly became lost. And we went by this massive fucking complex of a greenhouse. I stared dreamily at it, and V explained it wasn’t open to the public. We drove past it and I just continued to ooh and aah. This was years before I had a career doing Plant Things.Yesterday I got to go into that greenhouse!! And it was amazing!! It’s huge like, the employees ride around on golf carts and bicycles. The engineering was incredible. The plants were awesome. And I got to meet a Bat Flower / Tacca in person, which, despite drooling over it on the internet I just never thought I’d actually get to meet in person. Real life #plantlust. Bat Flowers are way larger than I thought they’d be, and also way cooler, and also their foliage is way more gorgeous than I imagined. Just. Wow. Wow all around. I went there with T and we made quick work, picking up our pre-ordered poinsettias (the owner of the plant nursery hates growing poinsettias so this one of those things we get from the mega growers and their beautiful fancy greenhouses). Van Wingerden sells to big box stores. As a tiny family-owned nursery, we’re just little ants nibbling around.It turns out Mr. Van Wingerden was a pretty cool guy, came to the US after WW2, had 14 kids, and just started building greenhouses and growing stuff in them. As I was told, each kid now has a greenhouse complex somewhere in the US, so that have national coverage. Mr. Van Wingerden also invented tons of greenhouse technology, and you can buy super cool stuff from them if you have the budget. Mr. Van Wingerden apparently became a bit of a philanthropist and also made sure to employ immigrants and people who really needed work.I wish I had taken more pictures of the greenhouse stuff but I was on the clock and had stuff to do. But oh gosh, the plumbing and the electrical… it was incredible. -- source link
#personal#plant nursery#greenhouse#engineering#tacca chantrieri