The story begins in 1932, when two friends from school, and later from the army, decided to go into business together after receiving a bag of flowerbulbs as an end of season bonus from a nursery they were working in.  

Mr Maas (Dick's father) and Mr van Steijn planted the bulbs and set about selling the resulting cut flowers door to door in their local village, Hillegom, in the province of South Holland, The Netherlands.

The Maas en van Steijn Nursery in Hillegom, The Netherlands

With the money they made they bought seeds of other plants such as Violas and Primulas, which they grew and then sold in the street markets of the surrounding cities of Haarlem, Leiden and Overveen.

By 1940 they had expanded their venture into growing vegetable and tobacco plants.

After the war, they switched their crops to various types of flowerbulbs, rather than the typical big 3 of Tulips, Narcissus and Hyacinth, and by 1947 had started growing perennials.

One of their big crops at the time was Canna, and The Maas en van Steijn Nursery was responsible for the introduction of Canna 'Fata Morgana'.

Eventually Mr van Steijn died, with no children to pass the business onto, so it was handed down from the original Mr Maas to his son, Dick.

Today, Maas en van Steijn is a large nursery specialising in the production of perennials for export.