No. 158: Silence after the storm

Then Vreeken comes with another message, I hope we are still welcome on your mobile, tablet, laptop or PC, we try to bring some colour to your thoughts and ultimately to your garden!
Mila was very busy this week and asked if I (Ton) would like to create a complete message again, it won't be too big, but it's made with love!

Growers (small and large) from all over bring their harvest of Chayote fruits to us. The harvest is very good this year and every time we hear how much fun it was to grow these fruits and... how delicious they are!
Do you have a sunny spot? A wall or a few trellises in a large pot? Grow them and you will be just as enthusiastic. The fruit is also the seed, they sprout in winter and if you follow our instructions on the website, everything will be fine.
Discover and enjoy, we are now offering them at a great autumn price.

As I mentioned before: as soon as you turn on the central heating, you should also check if there are any plants in your garden that can't handle the cold and are actually used to a tropical climate. You need to prepare them for a small move indoors. A frost-free (minimum 10 °C) and very bright spot is often sufficient.
We also have some of those cold-sensitive plants that we would like to rehome. Now at an extra low price!

Sweet Potato Cuttings for 2026!

If you open the link, you'll read it: place each cutting in a larger pot, let them grow nicely, and propagate from those shoots all winter long, until you have a good batch of plants for cultivation in the next growing season!

Order the Sweet Potato Cuttings

Pepper Collection, the earliest Start!

The same goes for our special hot peppers, for the super-hot enthusiast! We pruned the plants back a few weeks ago, and they are sprouting beautifully again. You can repeat this in winter if you wish, and you will have a fresh plant in spring that bears fruit much earlier than peppers you would have to sow in winter.

Order the Pepper Collection

Next week will be a pretty good week to work in the garden; we can't complain about this autumn! Hopefully, you enjoyed the red leaves until Thursday, because after storm Benjamin, tons of autumn leaves have blown off the trees...!

Hardy Leaf Begonias

During my rounds through our sales garden, I still saw quite a large assortment of plants, and the striking newcomers were the hardy Leaf Begonias! A forgotten group that we want to bring extra attention to. They grow best in the garden in shady spots with plenty of humus and reward you with annual beauty. As a bonus, the small flowers are edible; they taste fresh, tart, and very delicious!

Find the varieties here

Flower Bulbs

Of course, you can still plant our hardy flower bulbs for several months. We are keeping the stock level, although some varieties are now running out.

Order Spring-Flowering Bulbs

Crocus

From the special group of autumn-flowering bulbs, we still have 1 variety available, a wonderfully beautiful, bright white, autumn-flowering crocus! Be quick, while supplies last.

Order this Crocus

Hippeastrum, or our Giant Amaryllis Bulbs

Every year, it's a joy to experience your reactions to our beautiful Amaryllis bulb purchase; we buy the largest ones that produce the most flowers, and we hear that back! Today, they are rolling in and won't be in the store immediately, but you can already pre-order them!
Tip: try a different color or shape, discover the beauty of this flower!

We are already busy preparing for the jubilee year 2026, when our beautiful company will be 100 years old! The Royal Warrant certificate is still in the running, you can't rush that.
Furthermore, several beautiful and, above all, unique collections from various growers have already come our way. So you can expect a unique offer every month, of varieties that are rarely or never offered. It will be a great feast of discovery and finding spots in your garden! Are you a grower yourself? Do you have something unique up your sleeve? Are you brooding on the introduction of something new that not many people know yet? Grant us, as the jubilee, the scoop, and we will do our best to organize a great start for your cultivated product. It can be plants or bulbs, seeds, cuttings, small shrubs (not too big), bring it on!

Next year, I will also have been working at Vreeken’s Zaden for 50 years: the first years as a junior, from the 80s as owner, and in recent years as a freelancer. As a joke, I sometimes say: with all the hours worked, the few free days, and missed breaks, I actually equal 100 years of work for a full-timer.

By the way, I received a lot of responses to our offer of free resistant tomato seeds for serious influencers, very nice and thank you! If you missed that offer, check out our previous Newsletter.