Tulips and Spring

Thoughts of the Netherlands bring to mind windmills, clogs and of course the famous Dutch tulips. One can't travel through Holland in the spring without spotting the flower. But why are tulips and Holland so synonymous?

This is the sceneries from last year when we visited the Keukenhof flower park. A friend of us who went there last week took about 800 photos. His wife also took the same number of shots.

So it is an irresistible place of great landscape for shutter bugs. It features beds of tulips, crocuses, daffodils and other flowers from March 22nd until May 20th. That is Spring; the surrounding comes to life in a stunning display of breathtaking beauty. Various companies have their own patches in the park where they plant and exhibit their type of tulips and flowers. Tulip is a huge industry here. Millions are exported. Yearly export is about half a billion Euros!

Our drive yesterday was around the Tulip fields between the town of Leiden and Harlem, a stretch of about 30 km. This is the Tulip growing district. Tulips grow so well in Holland because of the nice Spring climate. Tulips require cool spring temperatures to bloom at their best. One can buy a small packet of tulip bulbs for less than 5 Euros and plants them before the winter. When Spring comes they will amazingly come to life. You can see it in almost everyone’s garden. We normally buy a packet of two and plant it in various spots around our garden. This year we didn’t do it so our garden is a bit bland.