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Three hours today. Mostly dry with scattered showers.
Is the bird on the post a rook?
Of course there is a lot of Dutch news today about the fall of our right wing government but there was also an interesting article about a change in plants and flowers they sell in garden centres and other shops.
The garden should be greener
The article is behind a paywall. I translated it for you if interested. It’s not solely about the Netherlands, it also ticks a few boxes about the use peat, rules for export to England and other countries.
The garden should be greener
The article is behind a paywall. I translated it for you if interested. It’s not solely about the Netherlands, it also ticks a few boxes about the use peat, rules for export to England and other countries.
REPORTAGE
Insects are disappearing, cities are becoming petrified. Intratuin now has signs like ‘Better a hedge than a fence’.
Authors Marcel aan de Brugh
Published on
June 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reading time
8 minutes
The photos were taken in Intratuin in Amsterdam
Photos Lin Woldendorp
‘Plants reduce stress, make you happy and increase your concentration.’ The text is on a yellow cloth on an iron pole, immediately behind the container with field sage, clematis, wild chicory and real goldenrod. In the Intratuin branch in Heerhugowaard you will find many more of these cloths and signs. ‘Welcome insects, animals and birds’, ‘Choose native, organically grown plants’, ‘Better a hedge than a fence’.
According to Elise Wieringa, sustainability manager at Intratuin, the signs are the result of “a major shift” in thinking about the garden. She gives a tour, together with Petra Slot, the director of this branch, and Frank de Groot, manager at the purchasing department for flowers and plants. For a long time, a neat, raked garden with lots of tiles was the norm, says Wieringa. “Now it’s: tiles out, greenery in.” Slot: “Preferably varied greenery, also with plants from our own country.”
Because variation, and more native plants, attract a lot of different insects. These ensure, among other things, the pollination of many plants. Insects also help to break down dead animals and plants, and thus release nutrients for all kinds of other organisms. In addition, many birds feed themselves and their young with adult insects and their caterpillars.
“The idea that the garden should be spotless is also changing,” says Wieringa. “The garden may well have messy corners. They offer hiding places for hedgehogs, frogs and other animals.”
The shift in thinking about the garden is a result of a number of things that have come together, says Wieringa. "Such as the realization that countless animals and plants worldwide are becoming extinct or are endangered." In the Netherlands, for example, the number of insects has decreased dramatically in recent decades, especially the number of bees and butterflies. As a result, plants pollinated by insects are also disappearing in Dutch landscapes. In addition, people are experiencing climate change first-hand. "The summers are becoming hotter and drier," says purchasing manager De Groot. "And there are more downpours." Branch manager Slot: "I feel the responsibility to offer my children perspective in this world." De Groot nods. "I sometimes wonder: what am I leaving behind?" Fertilizer
At the initiative of Intratuin, the Dutch garden sector – all major garden centres plus Praxis and Hornbach and a number of growers and traders – set itself an ambitious goal last year: by 2030, 70 percent of the range of plants must be free of chemical pesticides. The sector also wants to stop using artificial fertilizers, because their production costs a lot of energy and emits a lot of greenhouse gases. And there must be a replacement for the peat that is processed in potting soil. Raised bogs in Germany and the Baltic States are now being dug up for that peat.
Intratuin is a pioneer in this sustainability, says Berthe Brouwer of Natuur & Milieu, a nature conservation organisation that works with the garden sector. According to her, this has an impact, because Intratuin is the market leader with 57 branches in the Netherlands (and eleven in Germany and three in Belgium) and a market share of approximately 35 percent.
Director Petra Slot walks away and returns with a bag filled with sheep's wool pellets. This serves as an alternative to peat. Intratuin has recently started selling these bags. Since the end of last year, there has also been a table in its branch with houseplants that have been grown organically, i.e. without pesticides and artificial fertilizers. The fruit trees and herbs were already grown organically.
In 2014, Greenpeace drew attention to pesticide residues on plants that garden centers sell, and the negative effects of this on bees. "That woke us up," says sustainability manager Elise Wieringa. Petra Slot: "[weed killer] Roundup has not been on the shelves here since 2016."
Recently, Intratuin has been receiving more and more questions from consumers about pesticides, says Slot. Wieringa: "That is also due to the lawsuits against lily growers." Intratuin wants to move to a range that is at least completely "chemical-free" as soon as possible, she says. And preferably organic as well. "Then, for example, the grower is no longer allowed to use artificial fertilizer. But the volumes of organic plants that we need are not there yet. We are working on it step by step with our growers." And if a grower does not want to move along? "Then it is quickly over."
Petrified
Greening is extra important because of the increasing construction in cities. The guideline is that there must be 75 square meters of public green space for every home. That surface area has been decreasing in absolute numbers in recent years, according to a report by Natuur & Milieu in December. "Cities have only become more petrified in the past five years," says Berthe Brouwer of Natuur & Milieu. According to her, this increases the role of private gardens. "And therefore also of garden centers."
"Often most of the green space in Dutch cities is private," says ecologist Joeri Morpurgo of Leiden University. This also includes small gardens, he emphasizes. In the heart of Amsterdam and The Hague he examined 65 facade gardens of one to two square meters, and recorded 235 plant and 154 insect species. There were eight different bees (of the approximately 350 species in the Netherlands) and 17 different hoverflies (of the 363 species in the Netherlands). “You can have an impact even with a small garden.” On his own balcony, on the third floor in Haarlem, Morpurgo has a broccoli plant. Cabbage whites lay their eggs on that plant. “And the caterpillars that come out of it attract birds.”
—
Berthe Brouwer calls the goal that the garden sector set itself last year "a big step". At the same time, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is evident from the measurements that the garden sector has carried out annually by Natuur & Milieu into the presence of pesticides on six types of plants that are sold, such as lavender and rhododendron. "We have not found any illegal substances in the past two years. But of course that is not necessary", says Brouwer. The average number of agents on plants is also decreasing. But the percentage of plants with one or more agents is still high and stable. In 2021, it was 77 percent, the last measurement, carried out in May 2024, came to 79 percent.
Lavender
According to Brouwer, relatively many pesticides are found on lavender, carnation and bellflower. One reason for this is that these plants are popular and are grown in large monocultures. “If you get a disease or a plague in a monoculture, it spreads easily because all the plants are the same.”
In addition, lavender, carnations and bellflowers are grown early in the season, when it is still relatively humid and there is more damage from fungi. “Just to have them blooming in the store at the first ray of sunshine in March.” According to Brouwer, it is a question that garden centres are starting to ask themselves more often: do we have to offer everything at all times? “And are all those pesticides even necessary? The Amsterdam garden centre Sprinklr buys its garden plants organically.” Sustainability manager Elise Wieringa of Intratuin says that the garden sector has started a project together with a number of growers to see how lavender can be grown “chemical-free”.
Banning pesticides is complex, says purchasing manager Frank de Groot, “because the entire chain has to cooperate. Growers have to be willing and able to invest in it. And even then, they sometimes run up against regulations. For example, some countries do not tolerate any insects on imported plants.”
Lice and thrips
At the Natuurlijk Hopmans nursery in Wieringerwerf, there are long rows of plants in black plastic pots outside. Owner Rudolf Hopmans names them one by one. “Catnip… anemone… lungwort… broken heart.” He grows around thirty different types of plants. He used to combat insects that eat the plants, such as lice and thrips, with insecticides. But he is rapidly phasing them out. He has created a strip several metres wide around his company with all kinds of plants on which natural enemies of lice and thrips (also known as thunder bugs) live, such as hoverflies and parasitic wasps. From this green strip, they move to the cultivated plants and eat away the lice and thrips. That doesn't always work 100 percent, says Hopmans. "But I don't always want to just reach for the spray. Sometimes you have to force yourself to make different choices."
According to Hopmans, the discussion about pesticides is mainly taking place in the Netherlands. In the United Kingdom, it is much more about peat and the breakdown of peat. "Potting soil there must be peat-free by 2027." The potting soil he uses now only consists of 40 percent peat. "That was 80 percent four years ago." In Germany, he says, it is mainly about the total footprint of the cultivation.
This year, Hopmans is growing part of his range organically for the first time. "I am taking a risk with that, because many customers expect a clean product. And an organically grown plant is never completely free of bugs." For example, Norway and the United Kingdom do not tolerate any insects on imported plants. “At the border, they shake your plants out on a piece of white paper, and not a single thrips or lice may come off.” That is why plants are often sprayed with insecticide before they go to the customer. Hopmans and a group of growers started an initiative a few years ago to stop spraying for Dutch garden centres. Starting with the shrubby veronica. Other growers are trying the same with the bellflower. “That does mean that people sometimes buy a plant in a garden centre that still has insects on it.” It is then up to the garden centre, says Hopmans, to inform the customer about this.
“We do that too,” says Petra Slot of Intratuin Heerhugowaard. We are standing at the shelf with organic pesticides and plant food. Above it hangs a yellow sign: ‘Insects are useful and belong in a healthy garden! Therefore, only combat them if there is really no other option.’ Customers accept insects, or a leaf that has been bitten out of, more often, says sustainability manager Elise Wieringa. That is, with garden plants. Houseplants still have to be intact. "People still find animals inside a little scary."
Slot does not dare to say whether customers read the signs in Intratuin and care about them. "It is an enormous journey for us to explain what we should and should not explain, and how we do that," she says. Slot does not think it is necessary to state everywhere that something has been grown organically. "Some customers are not concerned with it. Fine. It does not release us from the obligation to make that move towards sustainability." Wieringa: "You do not want to patronize the customer too much or overload them with information." Slot: "We were just standing at the table with organic houseplants. But our conventional houseplants are often grown in the greenhouse without chemical agents these days. And also with less and less fertilizers. Does the customer know that? Should we say something about that?"
Eye-level
The garden sector regularly has research conducted into the behavior of customers. What do they buy, and why? "The motivation of the customer plays a role in this. But also the way in which things are presented in the store," says Cecilia Keuchenius of Motivaction, an agency that participates in these studies. The motivation of the customers seems to be fine, she says. If they are allowed to indicate preferences, a garden that is friendly to bees and butterflies scores very high. But the fact that plants are unsprayed scores low. While poison is not good for bees and butterflies. "The question is whether everyone understands the subject equally well." That is why garden centres should also be careful with terms such as 'indigenous', Keuchenius believes. "'Plants that naturally occur in the Netherlands' is better." Garden centres can influence the choice of customers, says Keuchenius. "For example, by offering something at eye level. That way it stands out more." All in all, it should not be made too difficult for customers, she says. For example, 15 percent of respondents indicate that they do not green their garden because they find the disposal of tiles and sand such a hassle.
Intratuin is already responding to this, says Petra Slot. We come to a mosaic of gray and green tiles. The gray ones are made of stone, the green ones Slot calls “sedum tiles”. They are ready-made turf with succulents. “With that you can easily replace stone tiles, just like that.”
Insects are disappearing, cities are becoming petrified. Intratuin now has signs like ‘Better a hedge than a fence’.
Authors Marcel aan de Brugh
Published on
June 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reading time
8 minutes
The photos were taken in Intratuin in Amsterdam
Photos Lin Woldendorp
‘Plants reduce stress, make you happy and increase your concentration.’ The text is on a yellow cloth on an iron pole, immediately behind the container with field sage, clematis, wild chicory and real goldenrod. In the Intratuin branch in Heerhugowaard you will find many more of these cloths and signs. ‘Welcome insects, animals and birds’, ‘Choose native, organically grown plants’, ‘Better a hedge than a fence’.
According to Elise Wieringa, sustainability manager at Intratuin, the signs are the result of “a major shift” in thinking about the garden. She gives a tour, together with Petra Slot, the director of this branch, and Frank de Groot, manager at the purchasing department for flowers and plants. For a long time, a neat, raked garden with lots of tiles was the norm, says Wieringa. “Now it’s: tiles out, greenery in.” Slot: “Preferably varied greenery, also with plants from our own country.”
Because variation, and more native plants, attract a lot of different insects. These ensure, among other things, the pollination of many plants. Insects also help to break down dead animals and plants, and thus release nutrients for all kinds of other organisms. In addition, many birds feed themselves and their young with adult insects and their caterpillars.
“The idea that the garden should be spotless is also changing,” says Wieringa. “The garden may well have messy corners. They offer hiding places for hedgehogs, frogs and other animals.”
The shift in thinking about the garden is a result of a number of things that have come together, says Wieringa. "Such as the realization that countless animals and plants worldwide are becoming extinct or are endangered." In the Netherlands, for example, the number of insects has decreased dramatically in recent decades, especially the number of bees and butterflies. As a result, plants pollinated by insects are also disappearing in Dutch landscapes. In addition, people are experiencing climate change first-hand. "The summers are becoming hotter and drier," says purchasing manager De Groot. "And there are more downpours." Branch manager Slot: "I feel the responsibility to offer my children perspective in this world." De Groot nods. "I sometimes wonder: what am I leaving behind?" Fertilizer
At the initiative of Intratuin, the Dutch garden sector – all major garden centres plus Praxis and Hornbach and a number of growers and traders – set itself an ambitious goal last year: by 2030, 70 percent of the range of plants must be free of chemical pesticides. The sector also wants to stop using artificial fertilizers, because their production costs a lot of energy and emits a lot of greenhouse gases. And there must be a replacement for the peat that is processed in potting soil. Raised bogs in Germany and the Baltic States are now being dug up for that peat.
Intratuin is a pioneer in this sustainability, says Berthe Brouwer of Natuur & Milieu, a nature conservation organisation that works with the garden sector. According to her, this has an impact, because Intratuin is the market leader with 57 branches in the Netherlands (and eleven in Germany and three in Belgium) and a market share of approximately 35 percent.
Director Petra Slot walks away and returns with a bag filled with sheep's wool pellets. This serves as an alternative to peat. Intratuin has recently started selling these bags. Since the end of last year, there has also been a table in its branch with houseplants that have been grown organically, i.e. without pesticides and artificial fertilizers. The fruit trees and herbs were already grown organically.
In 2014, Greenpeace drew attention to pesticide residues on plants that garden centers sell, and the negative effects of this on bees. "That woke us up," says sustainability manager Elise Wieringa. Petra Slot: "[weed killer] Roundup has not been on the shelves here since 2016."
Recently, Intratuin has been receiving more and more questions from consumers about pesticides, says Slot. Wieringa: "That is also due to the lawsuits against lily growers." Intratuin wants to move to a range that is at least completely "chemical-free" as soon as possible, she says. And preferably organic as well. "Then, for example, the grower is no longer allowed to use artificial fertilizer. But the volumes of organic plants that we need are not there yet. We are working on it step by step with our growers." And if a grower does not want to move along? "Then it is quickly over."
Petrified
Greening is extra important because of the increasing construction in cities. The guideline is that there must be 75 square meters of public green space for every home. That surface area has been decreasing in absolute numbers in recent years, according to a report by Natuur & Milieu in December. "Cities have only become more petrified in the past five years," says Berthe Brouwer of Natuur & Milieu. According to her, this increases the role of private gardens. "And therefore also of garden centers."
"Often most of the green space in Dutch cities is private," says ecologist Joeri Morpurgo of Leiden University. This also includes small gardens, he emphasizes. In the heart of Amsterdam and The Hague he examined 65 facade gardens of one to two square meters, and recorded 235 plant and 154 insect species. There were eight different bees (of the approximately 350 species in the Netherlands) and 17 different hoverflies (of the 363 species in the Netherlands). “You can have an impact even with a small garden.” On his own balcony, on the third floor in Haarlem, Morpurgo has a broccoli plant. Cabbage whites lay their eggs on that plant. “And the caterpillars that come out of it attract birds.”
—
Berthe Brouwer calls the goal that the garden sector set itself last year "a big step". At the same time, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is evident from the measurements that the garden sector has carried out annually by Natuur & Milieu into the presence of pesticides on six types of plants that are sold, such as lavender and rhododendron. "We have not found any illegal substances in the past two years. But of course that is not necessary", says Brouwer. The average number of agents on plants is also decreasing. But the percentage of plants with one or more agents is still high and stable. In 2021, it was 77 percent, the last measurement, carried out in May 2024, came to 79 percent.
Lavender
According to Brouwer, relatively many pesticides are found on lavender, carnation and bellflower. One reason for this is that these plants are popular and are grown in large monocultures. “If you get a disease or a plague in a monoculture, it spreads easily because all the plants are the same.”
In addition, lavender, carnations and bellflowers are grown early in the season, when it is still relatively humid and there is more damage from fungi. “Just to have them blooming in the store at the first ray of sunshine in March.” According to Brouwer, it is a question that garden centres are starting to ask themselves more often: do we have to offer everything at all times? “And are all those pesticides even necessary? The Amsterdam garden centre Sprinklr buys its garden plants organically.” Sustainability manager Elise Wieringa of Intratuin says that the garden sector has started a project together with a number of growers to see how lavender can be grown “chemical-free”.
Banning pesticides is complex, says purchasing manager Frank de Groot, “because the entire chain has to cooperate. Growers have to be willing and able to invest in it. And even then, they sometimes run up against regulations. For example, some countries do not tolerate any insects on imported plants.”
Lice and thrips
At the Natuurlijk Hopmans nursery in Wieringerwerf, there are long rows of plants in black plastic pots outside. Owner Rudolf Hopmans names them one by one. “Catnip… anemone… lungwort… broken heart.” He grows around thirty different types of plants. He used to combat insects that eat the plants, such as lice and thrips, with insecticides. But he is rapidly phasing them out. He has created a strip several metres wide around his company with all kinds of plants on which natural enemies of lice and thrips (also known as thunder bugs) live, such as hoverflies and parasitic wasps. From this green strip, they move to the cultivated plants and eat away the lice and thrips. That doesn't always work 100 percent, says Hopmans. "But I don't always want to just reach for the spray. Sometimes you have to force yourself to make different choices."
According to Hopmans, the discussion about pesticides is mainly taking place in the Netherlands. In the United Kingdom, it is much more about peat and the breakdown of peat. "Potting soil there must be peat-free by 2027." The potting soil he uses now only consists of 40 percent peat. "That was 80 percent four years ago." In Germany, he says, it is mainly about the total footprint of the cultivation.
This year, Hopmans is growing part of his range organically for the first time. "I am taking a risk with that, because many customers expect a clean product. And an organically grown plant is never completely free of bugs." For example, Norway and the United Kingdom do not tolerate any insects on imported plants. “At the border, they shake your plants out on a piece of white paper, and not a single thrips or lice may come off.” That is why plants are often sprayed with insecticide before they go to the customer. Hopmans and a group of growers started an initiative a few years ago to stop spraying for Dutch garden centres. Starting with the shrubby veronica. Other growers are trying the same with the bellflower. “That does mean that people sometimes buy a plant in a garden centre that still has insects on it.” It is then up to the garden centre, says Hopmans, to inform the customer about this.
“We do that too,” says Petra Slot of Intratuin Heerhugowaard. We are standing at the shelf with organic pesticides and plant food. Above it hangs a yellow sign: ‘Insects are useful and belong in a healthy garden! Therefore, only combat them if there is really no other option.’ Customers accept insects, or a leaf that has been bitten out of, more often, says sustainability manager Elise Wieringa. That is, with garden plants. Houseplants still have to be intact. "People still find animals inside a little scary."
Slot does not dare to say whether customers read the signs in Intratuin and care about them. "It is an enormous journey for us to explain what we should and should not explain, and how we do that," she says. Slot does not think it is necessary to state everywhere that something has been grown organically. "Some customers are not concerned with it. Fine. It does not release us from the obligation to make that move towards sustainability." Wieringa: "You do not want to patronize the customer too much or overload them with information." Slot: "We were just standing at the table with organic houseplants. But our conventional houseplants are often grown in the greenhouse without chemical agents these days. And also with less and less fertilizers. Does the customer know that? Should we say something about that?"
Eye-level
The garden sector regularly has research conducted into the behavior of customers. What do they buy, and why? "The motivation of the customer plays a role in this. But also the way in which things are presented in the store," says Cecilia Keuchenius of Motivaction, an agency that participates in these studies. The motivation of the customers seems to be fine, she says. If they are allowed to indicate preferences, a garden that is friendly to bees and butterflies scores very high. But the fact that plants are unsprayed scores low. While poison is not good for bees and butterflies. "The question is whether everyone understands the subject equally well." That is why garden centres should also be careful with terms such as 'indigenous', Keuchenius believes. "'Plants that naturally occur in the Netherlands' is better." Garden centres can influence the choice of customers, says Keuchenius. "For example, by offering something at eye level. That way it stands out more." All in all, it should not be made too difficult for customers, she says. For example, 15 percent of respondents indicate that they do not green their garden because they find the disposal of tiles and sand such a hassle.
Intratuin is already responding to this, says Petra Slot. We come to a mosaic of gray and green tiles. The gray ones are made of stone, the green ones Slot calls “sedum tiles”. They are ready-made turf with succulents. “With that you can easily replace stone tiles, just like that.”
If you are interested in that sort of thing, you might like a book I am currently reading: Nature Underfoot: living with beetles, crabgrass, fruit flies, and other tiny life around us, Yale UP 2020, by J Hainze, who was once a developer of pesticides (including Raid ant powder). Having seen the light, and knowing both insects and the pesticide industry inside out, he brings a very interesting perspective to it.
Dyffryn is 3 today 
She's SFH x Penedesenca, and is one of the best layers in the flock, both for quantity and quality of her eggs. She's never gone broody, but some of the youngsters are hers, raised by other hens. In particular, Llandeilo is her daughter, Erddig her son, and 2 of the youngest brood are also hers.
She's SFH x Penedesenca, and is one of the best layers in the flock, both for quantity and quality of her eggs. She's never gone broody, but some of the youngsters are hers, raised by other hens. In particular, Llandeilo is her daughter, Erddig her son, and 2 of the youngest brood are also hers. 
I had read about wool pellets as fertilizer years ago. I couldn't find any then and I am glad they are using it now. I would think feathers would be good also.
Plants grown and sold locally should have the same bugs as my garden. But imported may bring new bugs than cause problems.
Congratulations to Dyffryn on turning three. She is a very pretty lady.Dyffryn is 3 today
L-plate chicken mum
Crowing
Jackdaw, I call them the ASBO (Anti Social Behaviour Order) youth of the crow world! Highly intelligent and mischievous.
https://www.bto.org/learn/about-birds/birdfacts/jackdaw
Last edited:
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