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Keukenhoff Gardens in Holland has more varieties of tulips
than you've ever imagined. |
Incredible masses of pink, purple, red, orange, white, and multi-colored
tulips swayed in the spring breeze as we walked paths around Holland’s
Keukenhof Gardens. Flowers with petals large and small, smooth and ruffled
provided an imspiring variety blooms—more than I could ever have imagined.
If you haven’t seen Keukenhof Gardens, you haven’t seen what The Netherlands
is famous for. Gorgeous
tulips in a canvas of colors, yellow and white
daffodils, purple hyacinths and other spring bulbs stand out among massive pink
azaleas. Multiple ponds, some with fountain spouts dancing skyward, are
scattered throughout the grounds.
Currently
owned and operated by a foundation, Keukenhof’s first open air flower
exhibition was held in 1949. This expanded to an annual event that draws
visitors from all over the world. The theme for 2013 is “United Kingdom—Land of
Great Gardens,” which honors the abundant inspiration garnered from gardens in
the UK. There’s a special
exhibition on English gardens and a spectacular flower mosaic of Big Ben and
Tower Bridge.
Flower parades
On Saturday April 20, 2013
hundreds
of thousands of spectators will line the roadside for glimpses of the
annual Flower Parade traveling along its 40-km route from Noordwijk to Haarlem.
The procession will include 20 large floats and more than 30 decorated luxury
cars, interspersed with plenty of music. Another parade (free of charge) with
illuminated floats takes place in the evening on Friday, April 19
in Noordwijkerhout.
Spring spectacular
Located in Lisse,
Keukenhof is
the largest bulb garden in the world. You can bike from
Amsterdam or The Hague,
take a bus, or drive. Tours are also a popular option. Along the way, you’ll pass numerous fields filled with
tulips—a lovely preview of the bright floral displays awaiting visitors to
Keukenhof Gardens.
The renowned annual tulip festival runs from late March through early May
with the best time to see everything in full bloom in late April. Of course,
this is also prime tourist time, so expect the park to be extremely busy the
last two weekends of April.
Even though we visited the first week of May, near the end of tulip season,
it seemed like none of the seven million hand-planted bulbs was missing.
You can get a guide book or take a tour of
the park aided by a rented headset with information on each of the gardens, but
we decided to wing it and wander leisurely through the sumptuous scenes. This worked
well because we stopped so often to photograph large landscaped beds and striking
individual flowers.
Plan at least three hours to five hours to make your way around as much of
the 10.5 miles of footpaths as possible. You can bring a picnic lunch (Larry and
I ate cheese, bread, and fruit that we brought along) or purchase food from
restaurants and snack vendors.
In addition to over 100 varieties of tulips, the park features 2,500 trees
of 87 varieties and the largest sculpture garden in
The Netherlands. Featured
sights are the mosaic gardens, Japanese garden and inspiration garden as well
as daffodil and hyacinth bulbs in planters. Take time to stop and watch swans
swimming in the lake and costumed dancers performing traditional jigs.
Photos by Larry and Beverly Burmeier
Read more travel stories at Striped Pot and Austin Adventure Travel
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