The flower auction at Aalsmeer is the world’s largest hub for trading of cutflowers and house plants. It uses a famous bidding system based around a ‘clock’ which determines the price of a lot against the amount of time it takes buyers to bid for it.

The Aalsmeer Flower Clock

This keeps suppliers on their toes as the price for their product will rise and fall daily according to market demand for it.

It’s also possible to trade plants for a fixed price at Aalsmeer, but Harrie prefers to see how his cut flowers and potted Astilbes perform against ‘the clock’. It spurs him on to producing  better and more unusual products and striving harder to offer flowers at times when nobody else does, as his efforts will be rewarded with higher prices. It’s just like receiving tips for good service!

Harrie with a trolley full of 'Drum and Bass' potted plants, ready for the next morning's auction.

You might find cutflowers that Harrie has grown just about anywhere in the world. If you are in Europe, you may also find flowering pots of his Astilbes for sale as house plants. The uninitiated may throw these away when they're finished flowering, but of course these plants will thrive if planted out in your garden - with plenty of water of course!

There are many websites where you can read all about the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. The official site is http://www.vba.nl/ (you can switch to English on the homepage), or just type the phrase into your favourite search engine to see words and pictures of peoples experiences there!