Keukenhof Gardens - pictures of tulips from the world's biggest flower garden
Keukenhof isn't just about Tulips - see daffodils, hyacinths, narcissis, and more
The Keukenhof Garden park in Lisse, Holland, is the place to go if you love the bright and cheery colors of tulips and other spring bulbs. Each individual bulb is a beauty, but to see them massed like enormous carpets and in designs of all sorts is surprising and delightful to the eyes. Even if it rains, which it does a lot in Holland, the colors enliven and challenge the grey weather.
Since the best time to see the gardens is around the middle to end of April, it isn't easy to get there. I hope these pictures will give you a feeling for the park, and stir you to visit there some time in the future.
All photos copyright Elyn MacInnis, 2012
Keukenhof actually has more than tulips - It also has daffodils, hyacinths, and fritillaria. Fritillaria? It's the one that looks like a pineapple!
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When to visit?
The garden opens the last week in
March to mid-May.
Best time to visit? Mid-April
Keukenhof has a river of flowers - I loved this blue stream of grape hyacinths surrounded by daffodils
I had to wait a while to take this one and get it without a crowd. But it happened, even on a sunny morning in the height of tulip season. There are dozens of other bulb flowers blooming, including these charming hyacinths and daffodils. It made me wish I had a big enough garden to have a hyacinth stream like this one! The bulbs are donated by growers.
The small lakes and water features make Keukenhof even more charming
Everywhere you go in Holland there is water. a lot of it! Along the roads there are canals, and in the gardens there are beautiful ponds which reflect both the massed tulip colors, the trees, and the sky. Water adds a lot to the tulip and spring bulb picture. Make sure you visit the small lake at the back of the garden near the castle.
The earliest tulip genes are represented too - These tulips, tulipa sylvestrus, came to Holland before 1600
This tulip is in many ways my favorite. The most heavenly thing about it is its fragrance, which is absolutely delightful. Most of the bulbs at the garden are from hybrid stock, but the garden also has some of the oldest varieties too. This one came at the very beginning of the tulip trade, before 1600. It is as lovely today as it was then.
Isn't she lovely?
Deciding which type of tulip is your favorite is really hard. Of course, you don't have to have a favorite, but this is one of mine. If you go and take photos, it is wise to remember to think in all sizes. The smallest, single tulip in all its glory is a hard picture to remember to take. The masses of tulips are more remarkable in many ways. But each beautiful flower is so stunning, it is good to remember to take photos close up, and then in broader and broader frames, all the way to the massive fields. Each photo is amazing in its own way.
Here is our beautiful tulip together with all her friends - One tulip - a few tulips - masses of tulips - they are all amazing!
The Keukenhof Tulip and Spring Bulb Gardens
World's largest flower garden
7 million bulbs- 1,600 varieties
87 tree varieties - 2,500 trees total
15 km of footpath - 280 benches
Now receives visitors from more than 130 countries around the world
There are thousands of visitors to the Keukenhof Garden - but they are absorbed by the park, so you can almost always get a good photo just of plants
I took this photo so you could see how many people visit during the best viewing season, the last two weeks of April.
Keukenhof is also the world's largest sculpture garden
Keukenhof is not only a home for glorious spring bulbs, but is also home to more than 150 pieces of artwork created by more than 50 artists.
The tulips don't just end at the garden door... - All around the Keukenhof Garden you can find stunning fields full of color - a brilliant tulip quilt for the e
These fields are visible from the garden, but it is worth renting a bike and cycling around the Lisse area. There are places to rent bikes in every hotel and even at the gardens. There is a two hour cycling tour which took me all afternoon because I stopped for so many pictures and also had tea in a cafe.
Tulip fields - a sight you won't quite believe
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You can also see small home tulip gardens on the way to Keukenhof along the roads - Even the gardens of local homes are full of tulips and spring bulbs
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