The Dutch Heritage Gardens (Part 2)

Here are more images from my tour of the Dutch Heritage Gardens, a large commercial nursery northeast of Colorado Springs. It's a family owned business with an interesting history. Owner Aaron's grandfather, Aart, emigrated to the US from Holland in the 1940s after the war and started a nursery in Connecticut. As it turned out, Aart was not only a genius at growing, he had a good head for business and his nursery was a success. Over time, he started and sold multiple nurseries on the east coast; some were purchased from him by his sons, who proceeded to start even more nurseries, which over the years were handed down or sold to yet the next generation of family members. At some point, Aaron's dad ventured west and started the Dutch Heritage Gardens here, and after successfully running it for a while he sold it off to a new owner, who went bankrupt in short order. That's where Aaron stepped in, buying the nursery back in 2006 and expanding it over the ensuing years from three acres to a whopping twenty acres of greenhouses.

All told, about 26 of Aart's descendants currently own and operate nurseries in nine or ten states. Isn't that amazing? Good job, Aart, you created quite a legacy!

Stay tuned for my final installment on the Dutch Heritage Gardens tomorrow!

Some plants are watered from below, others from above.

As you can see, in this case water is bubbling up from below the floor. There are holes drilled in the concrete to drain it; the unused water is collected down below, filtered, and reused.

You might be thinking that this place uses an awful lot of water! And you're right, but they're wise about wasting as little as possible. Additionally, the Dutch Heritage Gardens has its own wells, so it's not tied to any municipal water source.

This particular greenhouse uses moisture in a nebulous form rather than direct watering, for tender houseplants that thrive best in high humidity. It reminded me of a rainforest. Despite the fact that the temperature outside was 27° that day, the greenhouses were warm and comfortable.

Plants by the thousands for as far as the eye can see. In other words, heaven.