Our cut flower garden
Regional, seasonal and sustainable
We at Landhotel Voshövel are looking for alternatives in many areas of our daily hotel life. Proceses are questioned, products are examined carefully and some structures are changed. So we also thought about the procurement and cultivation of the floristry in the house.
Have you ever wondered, for example, how the flowers you received for your last birthday were grown? Many people thes days pay attention to where their food comes from and how it was produced, but there is a huge imbalance in the area of cut flowers an floristry.
Why is there a special flower garden at the hotel?
We give answers.
In the course of globalization, price pressure has intensified and the production sold in Germany has been moved abroad. Most of the flowers come from the Netherlands, where the CO2 balance is immensely high due to the heated greenhouses. But also countries like Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia or Ecuador, where soils, lakes and nature reserves are partly poisoned with the spray residues from the monocultures. There are questionable working conditions, no or inadequate protective clothing, low wages and exploitation.
Fortunately, there are idealists - people who question things and want to do better. These visionaries have come together to form the Slowflower Movement. They want to re-perceive and value flowers and the people who work with them. To create trust and transparency with their guidelines. Back to real nature that can be seen, felt and smelled. To use the natural cycles and consider the careful management of the soil.
Cut flowers from our own cultivation
Fortunately, one of our employees, who has been privately involved with this topic for some time, questioned our procurement methods. This gave rise to the idea of our own cut flower garden in which natural materials are grown in a sustainable manner.
In order to be able to use the potential of these considerations as optimally as possible, however, she brought Meike and Bernhard Rohkemper of Gabel & Spaten from Bonn on board. They have several years of experience in the cultivation, processing and distribution of sustainable flowers, are founding members of the Slowflower movement in Germany and thus competent partners at our side.
Gabel & Spaten have developed a wonderful concept to achieve the best possible coverage of all seasons. So they aim to use annuals and perennials as well as bulbs, tubers and shrubs, with a strong focus on perennials.
But what are slowflowers anyway?
Slowflower is a term of art for living sustainability that only gains substance through implementation. A triad of seasonality, regionality and sustainability forms the basis of Slowflower cultivation.
The new way of living with flowers combines the longing for more closeness to nature with an awareness of environmental and climate protection as well as seasonal aesthetics. Only those natural materials are used that are available in the local climate depending on the season and that have been grown in the most natural and environmentally friendly way possible. This includes in particular the renunciation of pesticides and herbicides (except for those approved for organic cultivation) as well as the use of organic fertilizers and a preference for seeds of organic quality.
We at Landhotel Voshövel are more than inspired and over the years we are trying to produce more and more of our cut flower needs ourselves following the guidelines of the Slowflower movement. In addition, we would like to use the opportunity to take on a kind of ambassadorial role to make as many people as possible aware and enthusiastic about sustainable flowers.
