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DAY 11 / SUNDAY / APRIL 25
RIOT OF COLOR AT KEUKENHOF GARDENS
OVERNIGHT IN AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
We drive through
the Bollenstreek, the tulip bulb growing area, often described as the
largest flower garden in Europe. Touring through the tulip fields is a treat!
Keukenhof in Lisse is the largest flower garden in the world, a 70-acre park with millions
of flower bulbs, 5,000 square meters of greenhouses and a roofed-in garden.
Over 10 miles of winding paths takes visitors past gurgling streams, gushing fountains,
and placid ponds and some seven million flowers.
Keukenhof is Dutch for "kitchen garden" and once upon a time it was just that, the planting
grounds for the Countess Jacqueline of Hainault (1401 - 1436), an oft-married aristocrat
whose husbands included a Dauphin of France. It was on these grounds that vegetables and
herbs were grown for use in the kitchen of her castle.
Some 100 of Holland's leading flower-growers are assigned sections at the Keukenhof
which includes tulips, daffodils, narcissi, hyacinths, amaryllis, ornamental onions, and
summer snowflakes to name just a few.
The Keukenhof also contains seven different garden layouts, such as theme gardens and
the Nature Garden, which combine unfamiliar bulbs with perennials and shrubs in a natural
woodland.
Hydrangeas at Keukenhof Gardens
Photo by Michael Reed
Keukenhof Gardens Photo Gallery
by Francis Toussaint
Keukenhof Gardens Photo Gallery at Flickr
Carolus Clusius ~ University of Leiden
Carolus Clusius ~ Father of Dutch Tulip Breeding
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