The History of TNB Tulips...

In 1960 Dick & Judy BAKKER and their 3 children left Hoogkarspel in the Netherlands
to start a new life in Australia. As Dick was a tulip grower in Holland, a farm was soon purchased in Monbulk in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria and soon his first 1,000
tulip bulbs were planted. ( 1,000 bulbs being the maximum amount imported per year
due to quarantine restrictions!!)

During the initial years Dick worked a fulltime job and any spare time was spent
building up his stock of tulip bulbs. In the meantime berries and other lines of flowers
were also grown on the farm. Judy worked on the farm while Dick was at work, did
local sales, drove to the airport to send flowers to the Sydney Market and generally
took care of the family.

Nick , Dick and Judy’s oldest son was initially not very interested in farming, so he
went out in the workplace. He worked in construction: - the Longford gas plant
and on the Westgate Bridge and later as a high voltage operator at the state
electricity commission.

In 1979 Nick and his wife Els made the decision to join Dick and Judy on the farm.
Els, who was then employed in the banking industry, arrived in Australia in 1968
with her parents and 10 brothers and sisters. Her parents, Nic & Martha Koomen
who were also tulip growers in The Netherlands. Originally from Grootebroek,
the family spend 14 years in Luttelgeest in the NOP before moving to Australia.

For the next years the partnership TA & NL BAKKER produced a large range of
different flower crops. Calla lilies, chrysanthemums, gerberas, daffodils, peony
roses, freesias, iris and lilies. These flower lines changed over the years, but the
constant were always the tulips.

New premises were built, new sheds, cool rooms and a glasshouse with all the
requirements needed to ensure optimum conditions for tulip growing.
The glasshouse (seen above) is fully automated and temperature controlled,
both in winter and summer. This way we can ensure a top quality tulip crop
will be produced for the market at any time of the year. Our flower production
stops just before Christmas and we have our first tulips ready early February
to lead into Valentines Day.

From April to October we are in full flower production but production
is decreases from the months February to April and October to December
due to warmer climate conditions.

The tulip bulbs required for our flower production are sourced from two areas.
For the first half of our flower production we import tulip bulbs from the
Netherlands

For the later part of the season we use bulbs grown in the southern hemisphere,
these are ready for flower production approx July /August. These bulbs were
originally grown on our property in Monbulk later in King Lake and for past 4
years the tulip bulbs are grown in northern Tasmania but still processed at
our premises in Monbulk.