August “Gus” Albert De Hertogh, Ph.D., world-renowned flower bulb authority and a member of the Society of American Florists’ Floriculture Hall of Fame, died October 26 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 83.
When De Hertogh started his research career at Michigan State University, his specialty was vegetable plant physiology. But in 1965, Dutch flower bulb exporters decided to fund U.S.-based research to help troubleshoot problems for bulb growers. De Hertogh, a man who had never seen a tulip bulb, assumed the leadership role of the Dutch Bulb Research Project. Always one for a challenge, he embarked on a lifetime of discovery, unraveling how bulbs grow.
That first year, Dutch exporters sent 13,000 tulips, 2,000 daffodils and 4,000 hyacinths to the Michigan program. A year later, the amount more than doubled. De Hertogh spent the next 35 years researching flower bulbs, determining factors that influenced growth and development. His detailed work laid the foundation for the U.S. bulb industry.
“Rarely does an individual have the impact on an industry that Gus did with his bulb research,” said Terril Nell, Ph.D., AAF, professor emeritus at the University of Florida, former SAF president and current research coordinator for the American Floral Endowment, who worked with De Hertogh years ago at Michigan State. “He provided the guidelines and protocols for shipping, cold treatments and forcing conditions that have made the spring flowering bulb industry successful. He converted scientific results into grower-friendly information that the industry valued.”
De Hertogh contributed extensively to the industry, with more than 300 works to his name, including books, bulletins, websites and software. He is perhaps best known for the celebrated Holland Bulb Forcer’s Guide, which detailed the results of his bulb research in an easy-to-follow format for flower farmers. It first appeared in 1966 as a 28-page manual; the last update occurred in 1996 and boasted 570 pages.
Bulb growers hail De Hertogh’s research efforts, with many relying on the Bulb Forcer’s Guide to do business.
“We still use all that information he discovered,” said SAF Chairman Martin Meskers, AAF, owner of Oregon Flowers, Inc. Meskers, who emigrated from The Netherlands in the 1980s, credits De Hertogh with having a “really big influence for the bulb industry moving from Holland into the United States and Canada.”
The son of Belgian immigrants, De Hertogh loved cultivating relationships with the Dutch bulb growers, domestically and abroad. He had a one-of-a-kind personality, with a twinkle in his eye and a chuckle at the ready, Meskers said.
“When we met up at convention or spoke on the phone, he would start out speaking Flemish to me, and I replied in Dutch,” he said. “We’d speak a couple of sentences like that and then laugh at our accents.”
Meskers and Nell both recalled De Hertogh’s accessibility and willingness to share his knowledge. “He was always an individual of the highest integrity who provided straightforward responses to university faculty and the floral industry,” Nell said.
The legacy of De Hertogh’s work with flower bulbs transformed a centuries-old industry, advancing it into a new age that offered many economic opportunities. He also pioneered university-industry partnerships, both during his own seasons of research at Michigan State and later at North Carolina State. Upon retiring from academia, De Hertogh took on the role of research coordinator for the American Floral Endowment.
Marvin Miller, Ph.D., AAF, of Ball Horticultural in West Chicago, Illinois, served on the AFE Research Committee with De Hertogh. “All I can say is we were very lucky to have him. His wealth of background, both as a researcher himself and as a department head at NCSU meant he knew how to do research and how to work with other researchers,” Miller said. “He would coach the committee on what we could expect and would also coach the researcher on what we wanted. That coaching effort set the stage for an especially productive time for AFE.”
Throughout his illustrious career, De Hertogh received many awards and honors. In 1988, he was inducted into SAF’s Floriculture Hall of Fame, the industry’s most prestigious accolade. In 1994, he was honored with the association’s Alex Laurie Award for excellence in research and education. He also received the Teaching Award from the American Horticultural Society, the Herbert Medal from the International Bulb Society and the Silver Tulip from the International Flower Bulb Center, the bulb industry’s highest honor. An intense blue hyacinth also bears his name: ‘Professor De Hertogh’.
De Hertogh is survived by his wife, Mary Belle; children Mark, Michelle, Jennifer, Mary Moore, Susan and Jay; grandchildren Mark, Lori Beth, Drew, Patrick, Aaron, Claire and Addison; and great-granddaughter Caroline.
AFE has established a memorial tribute to De Hertogh. Contributions may also be made to the JC Raulston Arboretum at N.C. State or the American Diabetes Association, North Carolina.
Julie Martens Forney is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
