The Netherlands
THE NETHERLANDS
This is just one spectacular look at Keukenhof Gardens outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This garden was established in 1949 by a consortium of bulb growers and flower exporters to showcase their products and support the export industry. The gardens opened to the public in 1950. Keukenhof opens each Spring for 8 weeks from mid-March to mid-May.
The colors and flowerbed arrangements are amazing and there are 79 acres to enjoy filled with walks and with cafes along the way. The last time I was at Keukenhof it was April and there was a hale storm that swept through the gardens with heavy wind and rain. The stones were the size of quarters and bounced off the sidewalks and buildings. However, the acres of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths didn’t seem to mind at all and bounced right back up for me to enjoy them. And there was hot Dutch chocolate to enjoy at the cafes. The area around Keukenhof is one of the areas where the bulbs are grown. If you wander the side roads you are driving through fields of tulips all in colorful rows. Hopefully you’ll get there before the flower heads are cut off so the bulbs can be harvested.
Enjoy your visits. Hope you get some ideas for your own gardens and let’s all hope that we can visit in person in the seasons ahead.
For a peak at some of the other wonderful gardens that are out there for us to visit, see the next page and see if you can figure out where they are.