Millions of Tulips from the Netherlands
Written by Mary Flanagan Wednesday, May 12 2010
| Article Index |
|---|
| Millions of Tulips from the Netherlands |
| 2 of 2 |
| All Pages |
Holland Horticulture
 Photograph by Mary Flanagan |
LISSE, Netherlands — Greetings from the tulip capital of the world! Holland’s Keukenhof garden is in full bloom, showcasing the colorful wares of the local bulb growers. Open only nine weeks a year, from mid-March until mid-May, this spectacular spring garden is one of the most photographed locations on earth.
The Keukenhof – or kitchen garden in Dutch – takes its name from the land’s original function as the hunting and herb-gathering grounds for Teylingen Castle, owned in the early 1400s by Countess Jacoba van Beieren. That castle fell into ruins, and the estate has changed hands many times over the years. In 1854, the landscape architect family Zocher, who also designed Amsterdam’s central park, the Vondelpark, was commissioned to fashion a garden around the new castle. Their English landscape-style garden still forms the basis of the Keukenhof today.
Located in the heart of the bulb-growing region of the Netherlands, the Keukenhof has been planted as a spring bulb garden every year for the past 61 years. The 32-hectare park has 4,815 flower beds, which are planted by hand with roughly 7 million bulbs, of which 4.5 million are tulips in 1,000 varieties. This year’s bulbs were donated by 93 local bulb growers, and there is a waiting list to become a supplier of (free) bulbs to the Keukenhof.
 Photograph by Mary Flanagan |
The Keukenhof garden is different every year because the bulbs are not reused. At the end of the blooming season, all the bulbs are removed from the ground and destroyed. Each year the Dutch growers announce which bulbs they want to offer the Keukenhof for the next season, and then it’s up to landscape designer Jasper van de Zon to come up with a plan which makes best use of the garden. His formidable task is to keep the spring garden in full bloom continuously for two months as well as the bulb suppliers happy.
The park has also started the tradition of choosing a different theme each year. This year’s theme is “From Russia with Love.” The highlight is a large flower mosaic depicting Moscow’s Saint Basil’s Cathedral, designed by Van de Zon and using approximately 65,000 flower bulbs, including tulips and grape hyacinths.
