Dutch Flower Experience : How a summer retreat inspired a unique floral program

The Flower retreat that I almost missed

I did a rather extravagant thing for myself this past summer and went on a flower retreat. I chose the program run by Emily Avenson under the name of Fleuropean, hosted in the country side of Belgium just south of Maastricht, an easy 2.5 hour drive for me. It was called Artist’s Retreat, a 3200 EUR package in a beautiful chateau among flowers and fellow florists.

At the time, I have been out of a marketing freelancer job since mid April, having been severed rather unexpectedly and thus was feeling extremely anxious about what my future income source would be. I had started my floristry as a side hustle in 2021. And since then, I have been relying on marketing freelance jobs economically while my heart clearly leaned towards floristry. It was a tricky balance.

Deciding to go to this rather expensive retreat wasn’t easy considering my financial worry at the time. If it hadn’t been for the the initial deposit already paid, I would have pulled out. But as luck would have it, I kinda had to go and once determined, I really looked forward to some me time that I didn’t have for a while. One thing I was very keen on was to meet other established florists. Coming from 25 years of corporate marketing background, I had zero connection in the world of flowers as all my floral studies have been self-taught with books and online courses.

Inspiration from international florists

Came mid August, and I joined a group of 10 other fellow florists, many of them Asians coming from California, Hong Kong and Taiwan. My own room at the top of the chateau made me feel like a princess or at least a character from a fairy tale. There were several flower beds and gardens within the property, all with different types of flowers, foliage and branches. The space was nothing short of magic. But most of all, the feeling of community among 11 participating florists was exactly what I needed.

I spent those 6 lovely days, roaming the flower fields, chasing the last light in the big flower studio, and cooking and enjoying dinner with everyone. Some of them have been in flower business for decades. Half the participants weren’t retail florists just like me - a few did it as a side hustle and some had studios for pre-booked events or bouquets only. While my floristry was relatively smaller scale, I could see that I had solid skills and good color sense. In a way, I got to see the context of my floral style and capabilities for the first time through this small universe of 12 florists (including Emily). And that made me feel less anxious and worried. Even though I was still probably the most clueless on the business operation side of things, I could see that I would be able to carve out my own path. That everyone has their own path.

As I was driving back home after the retreat, I realized that my heavy worry had gone. I felt light and positive again, even though nothing changed in terms of my situation at home. Within days, 3 of the florists from the Retreat, visited me in the Netherlands. We spent time visiting Aalsmeer Auction, a wholesale flower market, and one of my cutting gardens as well as my studio. It’s through these further explorations and chats that the idea for my Dutch Flower Experience came about. My florist visitors were all deeply impressed with the Netherlands’ infrastructure and ample options for flower sourcing. In a way, every country and city has its own unique floral vibe and if you are a florist, you’d be curious to explore them all. But here in the Netherlands, oh, we got serious vibes when it comes to flowers. And so with that, I started to develop a program that mixes flower sightseeing with flower workshop called Dutch Flower Experience.

Discovering my floral path

It’s funny how you never really understand what you’ve got until you see it through the eyes of the strangers. I have appreciated how reasonable the flower costs are and I knew it was because I was in the Netherlands. I myself visited Keukenhof numerous times and understood the size of Netherlands’ flower tourism. But this great ecosystem around flowers that is so well-organized, abundant and convenient was something I probably took for granted even as I have been hosting many flower workshops here. Through my flower friends I really started to recognize how unique and special my surroundings are. And thus I felt encouraged to develop an experience for other flower lovers to benefit from it as well. Kind of a flower arranging tour the Dutch way? Because, where else can you see Keukenhof every spring with its millions of blooms or drive 20 minutes to several choices of flower farms to cut flowers from? Where else can you buy a bunch of 10 tulips for less than 3 Euros? Nowhere.

This is why, even though I don’t have a chateau or acres of flowers beds, I’ve decided to introduce this program I call Dutch Flower Experience. It’s for anyone who would like a refreshing and abundant floral environment in which to pluck, arrange, photograph and be inspired. It’s an eclectic collection of activities ie. flower touring, flower cutting, and flower workshop to create one of a kind arrangements. Well, there is another element that will make it even more unique.

Creating the “Dutch Flower Experience” with a touch of Korea

To make it even more unusual, I am serving home cooked Korean lunch during 2 days that we will be spending at our home studio. Because after all, I am a Korean florist living and working in the Netherlands for 11 years now. We’ve had to get creative and skillful in how we prepared our food, because we craved good, authentic Korean comfort food while Asian ingredients were so rare. And now after 11 years of exploratory grocery shopping and recipe experimenting, we are confident and proud of the way we prepare and present our meals. This will be the perfect finishing touch that makes our experience completely special, with both the Dutch and Korean influence very present.

So there. This is the effect of my summer flower retreat, one of my best investments in myself. I am very excited to now have my own mini floral retreat experience that captures both who I am and what Netherlands can offer.

As a beneficiary of a great experience that enabled healing, connecting, growing and enjoying, I want to be able to provide the same for others. Because I now know what it can do to you and how it can change your life.

• Dutch Flower Experience launches in April of 2025. Learn more, get inspired and transform your flower journey. Follow this link to book before the small number of slots get reserved.