Centered around five inquiries, this thesis uses several concepts to analyze Dutch horticulture and FloraHolland Aalsmeer: moral economy, commodity, world system, networks, horticulture, aesthetics, masculinity, cooperative, and the market. It explores how Dutch horticulture was and is embedded in national planning, policy, infrastructure, and aesthetics, both in the early stages of Dutch horticulture in the seventeenth century, with its environment of an emerging consumer culture and commodities, and in the twentieth century, as contemporary auctions and horticulture developed in its myriad influences. Using eclectic historical, sociological, and ethnographic sources and methodologies, this dissertation focuses on the following. How did flowers become integrated commercially and culturally in the Netherlands? How did a small town named for eel fishing come to organize the first flower auctions, and then rise to be the center of the world market? Why are flowers sold at auction—and for that matter, why are U.S. Treasury bonds, high art, or anything else sold in that manner? How do Dutch horticultural auctions work? What do flowers look like as commodities, and what has the Netherlands contributed to inventing, producing, and marketing these commodities? Why are more and more of the flowers sold in Aalsmeer grown in other parts of the world? And as international growing increases, how does the Netherlands maintain itself at the center of an increasingly global industry?