Too Many Tulips?

By Eilene Lyon

Traveling in Holland in the spring means tulips! Gazillions of them – plus hyacinths, crocus, daffodils and other flowering bulbs. In addition to seeing fields of flowers along the bikeways, the do-not-miss attraction is Keukenhof (“kitchen garden”).

This 32 hectare (79 acre) garden showcases the flowering bulbs from 100 vendors, and another 500 vendors also showcase flowers and plants in the greenhouses. Forty gardeners plant 7 million bulbs for your viewing pleasure.

Keukenhof is only open for 8 weeks each year (mid-March to mid-May – peak viewing in mid-April), and is visited in that short time by up to 1.4 million people. That means on an average day, you will be crammed in the park with 25,000 other people. I think when we were there (a gorgeous, sunny April day) we saw about twice that many. The parking lot is probably larger than the gardens!

Castle Keukenhof (open year-round) – Wikimedia Commons

This kaleidoscopic showcase is a small section of the 15^th century hunting grounds of the Castle Keukenhof. The estate was landscaped as an English-style garden in 1857. In 1949, the portion now used as the demonstration garden was developed to promote Dutch floriculture.

My Sunday treat for you is a slideshow of rainbow hues from the glory of Keukenhof 2018.

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Sources:

https://keukenhof.nl/en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keukenhof