Meet the Owners
Dutch-born Jan (pronounced “Yon”) Limmen and his wife Rosemary (née Bouthot) bought their property at Barter Hill and Port Clyde Roads (Route 131) in 2006 after exploring every Mid-Coast Maine peninsula and coastal community from Boothbay to Bar Harbor. “We were looking for water views, visibility for a home-based business, and a small town sense of community. We found it all in Tenants Harbor on the St. George peninsula.”
Mid-Coast Maine’s climate reminded Jan of his boyhood village on Holland’s North Sea. After working as a landscaper in the busy Baltimore-Washington area for over 35 years, he was tired of traffic and long commutes and missed bike rides, sunsets and walks on the beach. For Rosemary, the move from Maryland brought her closer to her French-Canadian father’s roots in Fort Kent on Maine’s northern border. After 25 years in corporate communications, PR and conference planning, she too longed for a more healthy, stress-free yet creative lifestyle where she could be outdoors and work with her hands.
Ready for a change, but not ready to totally retire, the Blue Tulip is the couple’s dream come true. Since 2007 they have rebuilt their cottage, built a barn, started three businesses, reclaimed overgrown lawns, cleared dead trees and thickets from their 2.4 acres, and opened up views of their pond, Tenants Harbor and the nearby Camden Hills.
Jan manages the couple’s Tenants Harbor gardens and Landscaping Services. Rosemary takes care of Lodging requests. Until year-end 2020, they shared responsibility for selecting merchandise, designing displays, marketing and operating their Blue Tulip Garden Boutique.
Going forward, from June through early October, they will continue to sell home-grown veggies, herbs, cut flowers and Dutch bulbs outside their barn and, one morning a week, at the Ocean View Grange Farmers Market on Rte. 131 in Martinsville.
Why the “Blue Tulip”?
“The name seemed a natural outgrowth of Jan’s heritage, landscaping experience and years working in Holland’s bulb fields,” explains Rosemary. “Blue tulips are rare. In fact, most ‘blue’ varieties are more purple than blue. And that’s the point. We hope customers find our garden products and services to be as distinctive and unique as that hard-to-find blue tulip.
“After seeing watercolors by local artist Lyn Snow in her Rockland gallery window, we commissioned her to create our logo. Her blue tulips represent our business very well. They are colorful, alive and growing!”