Awesome Keukenhof premier show garden offers array of colours

New flowing bulb season starting

Flowers and the flowering bulb culture and trade are an integral part of the story of the Dutch, perhaps most vividly demonstrated by making a visit to Keukenhof, a huge but independent garden located in the heartland of the bulb culture known to the Dutch as the 'Bollenstreek.' Although it is not tied to the flowering bulb trade, it amply serves as its show garden. Visitors to Keukenhof cannot help but be awestruck by all aspects of the garden's presentation. Only open for a few brief weeks, Keukenhof was set to open its 2011 season on March 24 and will close again on May 20.

A beautifully laid out botanical garden of around 32 hectares (70 acres), Keukenhof crews each year plant more than 7 million flowering bulbs, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissi and gladioli with a strong emphasis on tulips; tulips of a wide range of colours, shapes and heights. If the vast number of bulb plants is not sufficiently impressive, think also about the fine colour scheme during the peak of the short flowering season of each variety.

The Dutch have a long horticultural history in which the tulip plays a significant role, but unlike the flowering bulb culture and trade, Keukenhof, as the prime show garden of The Netherlands has itself a relatively short history. Much of Keukenhof's rise in the national consciousness of the nation has passed by the average Dutch immigrant who went abroad during the 1950s. Keukenhof's rise as an international 'must see' in the Spring season dates from the more recent decades.

To receive the entire article, contact us and request a copy of this article. This double-page feature article on a key aspect of Dutch horticultural history is richly illustrated with full colour photography.