Thursday, February 17, 2005

Fiscal concerns grow over Holland greenhouses

The tulip-cultivating facilities, some of which are more than 70 years old, need to be renovated.

Associated Press

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HOLLAND -- This spring, the city will have about a million tulip bulbs planted in its parks, outside its public buildings and along its streets.

If the conditions are right, the flowers will blossom into a spectacular floral display just in time for Holland's annual Tulip Time Festival in May.

At the end of May, as the last of the tulips shut down, city workers will dig up about one-third of the bulbs. They will replace them with an assortment of 65,000 to 75,000 annuals and perennials, including marigolds, geraniums, petunias and pansies.

The summer flowers are grown from seed in five city-owned greenhouses. But the Holland City Council is preparing to take a look at whether the city can afford to continue running the greenhouses.

Brian Creek, the city's parks and cemeteries manager, said not only are the oldest greenhouses in need of renovation, even more greenhouse space is needed to continue growing an adequate number of summer flowers for the future.

Holland operates six greenhouses, including two on Windmill Island, a city park and popular tourist destination.

One, built with costly Victorian glass in 1911, originally was designed as a winter refuge for tropical plants displayed at another park. A cold-storage unit next to the greenhouse is where the city keeps its Netherlands-grown tulip bulbs during winters.

"Unfortunately, it's getting older and older and getting more decrepit," Councilman Mike Trethewey said.

Another Victorian-glass greenhouse was built in 1929. Two greenhouses have been on Windmill Island since 1965; one is used to propagate summer flowers and the other is for publicly displaying exotic plants.

Creek said he thinks the two oldest, most stylish greenhouses could be moved to Windmill Island for public use. If the city is to remain in the flower-growing business, he said it needs a large, new, low-maintenance greenhouse.

If not, it would be difficult to find a commercial source for its flower needs, said Steve Zwiep, who manages the city's greenhouses.

Commercial growers raise perennials and annuals for sale during April and May. They usually sell out most of their stock by late May, when Holland would need them.

"We plant our annuals much later than anyone else," Zwiep said.