Thus - When in Amsterdam, in MAY, one must visit the Keukenhof Gardens - the largest bulb garden flower park in the world. If you are staying in the city, it is very easy to arrange a half or full day tour. You get on the bus, they tell you a bit about the gardens/surrounding area and then they drop you off at the Keukenhof and you meet your bus at the arranged time.
This is the best kind of 'tour' to take if you don't wish to wander around with a bunch of strangers and follow a guide holding an umbrella.
I was so busy in the Fall that I hadn't planted any bulbs this year. A first for me in about 11 years. Nor did I get the flower beds prepped for winter which as of now, I am reaping the results of my "lack of labor." Anyway - the trip out to these gardens definitely satisfied any desire to see tulips, lillies, etc...
After about 1 hour, Bart said "Huh, I thought you were a good gardener. Until I came here!" To which I replied "I am not 30 full-time gardeners, nor do I plant 7 million bulbs by hand."
So here's a bit of the Keukenhof:
The Lilie Exhibition - more than 35,000 lilies of approx. 300 different varieties. I really wanted to see this but knew that Rachel and I would have a short window of opportunity to go through before our allergies started up (I have to remove all of the pollen "thingies" if they are in the house). It only took about 2 - 3 minutes for our eyes to start itching and about 5 for Rachel to start sneezing. We had to speed though but it was beautiful.
Loved these feathery red tulips.
Besides the bulb gardens, they have naturalized plants (hosta, bleeding hearts, lamium, woodruff, etc...) and other flowering bushes (rhodedendrons, azaleas, etc...) so everything really blends together outside of the sculptured garden areas.
Prettiest flowers we saw all day! Unique and one of a kind! Not for Sale (at least not today).
1 comment:
Beautiful! Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to want to fly across the ocean and see them myself! For now, I'll stick to the Tulip Festival in Pella. :)
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