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Dutch Invasion Following World War II Brings “Peace Flower” to Western Washington |
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Written On: Spring 2003 |
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Written By: By Scott Carlson |
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In late 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented the Canadian government with 100,000 tulip bulbs as a gift for providing Holland's royal family exile during World War II. Since then, the tulips have been a “PEACE” flower in North America, and her pilgrimage blazed the trail for the Dutch tulip growers’ invasion in western Washington.
While the Dutch came to raise and sell bulbs, their spectacular fields lined with rows of yellow, red, purple and white tulips and daffodils drew the eye of thousands of visitors. Today, they flock by the bus load to Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in the Mt. Vernon-LaConner area throughout April. Lesser known are the “tulips of Mossyrock,” but anyone driving along Highway 12 knows about this hidden Washington secret.
Washingtonians can thank the Dutch families Roozen and DeGoede who started the show.
In 1947, the young Bill Roozen and Henry DeGoede immigrated to Skagit Valley with their wives to grow spring flowering bulbs. Eventually, Henry DeGoede moved to Mossyrock while his brother Anthony took his place in the Mt. Vernon area and his brother John moved to the fertile Puyallup Valley near Sumner.
Tulips are deeply planted in the DeGoede family heritage. In the sandy soils of 19th Century Holland, the first John DeGoede started the botanical tradition. His craftsmanship was passed down to his son, John Jr., and brought to America by grandson, Henry. While most people associate tulips with Holland, history tells us the Turks developed the bulb in the 15th Century.
Mossyrock Tulips are Best Kept Secret
Henry, now 80, stepped down and passed his 500 acre farm to his four sons: Jack, Bob, Tom and Dennis. While Bill Roozen died last year, his family runs his bulb empire. Family is important to the DeGoedes and Roozens.
At the Mossyrock operations, the DeGoede’s employ 110 people and raise 15 million bulbs each year, which are shipped across the United States and Canada. The DeGoedes diversified their operations and nearly three-fourths of their business now is selling container plants and flowers from their greenhouses and retail shop along Highway 12.
Minimum Wage Initiative Hurt Bulb Growers
The bulb business is highly competitive. Growers like the DeGoedes and Roozens face stiff domestic and foreign competition. Technology and mechanization are vital to staying in business. Still, growing and packing bulbs is labor intensive, and when our state passed the minimum wage initiative (Initiative 688) in 1998, it hurt Washington growers. That ballot measure set automatic annual wage increases tied to the Seattle Consumer Price Index.
The Association of Washington Business is working to stop the runaway minimum wage before it puts farmers out of business and kills jobs. AWB helped draft minimum wage corrective legislation introduced in Olympia this year, but it faces stiff opposition from labor unions.
“Wages and benefits are much different in rural Washington than in downtown Seattle,” AWB minimum wage specialist Grant Nelson said. “It is putting folks like the Roozens and DeGoedes at such competitive disadvantage they will lose markets to lower-cost growers. The legislature needs to change the law this year.”
“We don’t want to say people don’t deserve it,” Bob DeGoede said. “We have an excellent crew and they’re hard working, but the biggest beef we have is that we must be on a fair playing field with the rest of the country.” Washington has the second-highest minimum wage in the nation at $7.01 per hour. Only Alaska’s minimum wage is higher, and many of Roozen and DeGoedes competitors operate in states where the minimum wage is a fourth to a third lower.
Meanwhile, growers like the DeGoedes have no choice but to automate and eliminate jobs. Automating also is costly.
Henry, now retired, still visits the operations and ribs his sons about how much money they spend on new equipment. But if Henry thinks his sons are spending too much on tulip production today, consider this: In Holland in the early 17th century, hardcore bulb growers would shell out 3,000 guilders ($1,500) for a single Semper Augustus bulb. Someone even paid 4,500 guilders ($2,500) and a horse and carriage for a single bulb more than three centuries ago.
Imagine if those prices held today. Mossyrock, Mt. Vernon, LaConner and Sumner would be walled cities with armed guard protecting every single bulb. Thankfully, we can plant Washington bulbs in our yards for just a few dollars.
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