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 15th 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.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keukenhof
That’s absolutely wonderful! Thank you, Eilene. 🙂
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Glad to brighten your day!
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Never too many 🙂
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I agree! They’re my favorite flower–thanks for the photos, Eilene!
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No such thing as too many tulips! We’ve been to Keukenhof twice, the first time much as you’ve displayed, but the second time was an exceptionally cold spring. The indoor exhibits were as wonderful as before, but outdoors there was hardy anything. At least it was quiet!
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You can see we managed to get some nice photos despite the hordes, but it really was a horrible jam by the time we left. The indoor exhibits had the most unusual flowers.
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Lucky you, beautiful
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Yes, it was nice to visit the Netherlands. Thanks for stopping by!
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Beautiful! There’s no such thing as too many tulips. 🙂
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Thank you, Sheryl. Have you been to the Netherlands in tulip season?
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Can you really have too many tulips?! We’ve got some beautiful pink ones in the garden.
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They don’t grow well where I live at all. You are lucky!
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Amsterdam is wonderful in the spring! Thx for sharing 🤩
Btw can I ask, in your old post (June/I read it today) you said that you had Nike shoes at the school and mentioned – “dork alert”? Why… bcz it’s sport shoes? 🙂 I mean I can’t get it. It’s kinda fashion now
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I’d say what I meant was that I used shoe polish on my white Nike shoes. Thought that was a bit dorky.
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Ah okay 🙃😀 got it now!
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I have to repeat Anabel’s sentiments in that you can’t have enough tulips. Lovely photos.
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Thanks, Suzanne! I agree.
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