History
- It began in 1896, when my great-grandfather, Rudolf, bought land in Dahlenburg to set up a nursery. The contract was sealed with a handshake.
In 1932, my grandfather, Friedrich, took over the business, while he was off to war as a soldier, my grandmother, Magdalene, was responsible.
From my her diary and her stories, I gained an idea of how difficult it must have been during the Second World War. But my grandmother managed to support the business and her family and even expanded the nursery!
In 1958, Friedrich began cultivating orchids. Joachim, my father, was already completing an apprenticeship. The price of a young orchid at the time consumed all of his savings, but the first experiments were very successful, so other species were soon added.
When my grandfather died in 1966, he took over the business.
My story
- As a child grew up in the nursery and knew from a young age that I wanted to continue the family tradition. I completed an apprenticeship as in Berlin and subsequently studied horticulture, graduating best of my class.
I loved my job, it was fun to doing business worldwide with clients like Shanghai, St. Petersburg, and Singapore Botanical Garden.
Coelogyne orchids have always been one of my favorite and I created various new hybrids.
In 2016, a restaurant, the Orchid Café, opened next to the nursery, which was particularly popular with tour groups.
In 2018, I was more than happy to win a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, an award comparable to an Oscar in the film industry.
In 2023 began a new chapter. Due to a heating failure I lost nearly 80% of my plants, since my two sons, Frederik and Jakob, were nor interested in running the OrchIDEENgarten, I then rented it to develop myself in other forms.
Diversity
- My idea to grow orchids without any chemical treatment, was very unique in Europe. It was not always easy, but it was definitely possible. On my trips to suppliers worldwide, I noticed how much the natural habitat of the orchids is in danger. It was very important to me to give some of the profits back to the countries where the orchids came from. This is why I became a strong supporter of reforestation projects in Borneo.
