As we approached spring, MFI and I saw a growing number of television commercials and billboards advertising the upcoming Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, WA (population 35,219). In the early ’80’s, we were fortunate to tour the world famous Keokenhof Gardens in Lisse, Netherlands while stationed in Germany. Once mid-April rolled around, we drove an hour north to check it out.
There were four major tulip farms available, but with some research, a tour of Roozen Gaarde (Rose garden) seemed best. Dutchman, William Roozen, emigrated to the Skagit Valley in 1947 and by 1952 owned and worked a 5-acre farm. Today, the family still owns the farm, but it has grown to 1,000 acres of field blooms, 16 acres of greenhouses, and over 7 acres of show gardens. The greenhouses and fields are planted with tens of millions of bulbs including 200 varieties of tulips, 50 different daffodil species, variations of hyacinths, muscari, and other specialty flowers. Each Fall, over 1 million bulbs are planted in newly redesigned floral beds for the annual enjoyment of a million Spring visitors. The farm has been open to guests since 1985.
I took more than 200 photos during our tour, so the real challenge was deciding how many pictures of flowers should it take to wow our readers? I’ve erred on the side of caution in an effort to not bore you…but! This video provides an overall perspective of the planted fields. We happened to be there when the work crews arrived mid morning and spread like ants throughout the flowers.
The most popular part of the farm were the flower beds. What I’m providing here is a balance across the various colors and schemes.
In addition to the floral beds, there were a number of planted areas, which simply provided scenic beauty.
While the colors certainly encompassed the rainbow, these single flower pictures demonstrated some of the hybrids, as well.
As we strolled through the fields, I periodically noticed lone flowers of a different color popping up within what was meant to be a row of the same color. From an art perspective, I’ve titled these “Integration.”
During our tour, MFI saw a guest having difficulty maneuvering his wheelchair on the gravel pathways. She offered to help and got into a lengthy conversation. While I meandered off on my own, he shared an interesting story about his wife. Being a home garden horticulturist and tulip officianado, she selected and ordered what she believed to be a unique tulip varietal from Keukenhof Gardens. Remember, Keukenhof is world famous for its tulips and gardens in the country synonymous with historic tulip production. She was certain she’d be getting something quite special. Imagine the irony felt when she was notified apologetically that her order would be delayed because the shipment of this bulb had not yet been received from Roozen Gaarde.
Both tulip gardens were spectacular in our opinions and well worth a visit. Because the flower beds at Keukenhof were planted amidst old growth forest, we think that made the experience much more romantic and made Keukenhof our preference.