Keukenhof

On the Saturday we went off to the Keukenhof gardens. It is essentially the place where the great bulb growers of the Netherlands showcase their bulbs. And sell some of course. There is also an orchid house though we didn’t bother to visit that. On the way we passed brilliantly striped fields of colour, as the young tulips bloomed.

 

Brilliantly striped fields of flowers

I’m not sure there is much point in my writing much about the gardens. Pictures will say so much more. It was very busy - not surprising as it was a Saturday & the bulb season is so short. My conclusions about bulbs I’ll put after the pictures.

Carpet of grape hyacinths

  

Having seen the spectacular gardens at Keukenhof, we questioned whether we fancied any more bulbs for our garden.  We’ve certainly decided on some more daffs/narcissi. We’ve decided we really fancy some golden yellow ones with orange trumpets. Fritillaries we’re not keen on. Tulips do look wonderful in great sweeps, but the odd ones dotted in gardens as you tend to see in this country, don’t do much for us. Much as I love their pure colours & the shape before the petals open out fully, they do quickly look a mess if bad weather hits them. The winds around here are very conducive to twisted stems & quickly falling petals. If I can find a sheltered spot I may consider a few, possibly more alpine varieties, in pots but that will be all. Hyacinths I find look rather too artificial to me, a bit plasticky, though their perfume is delicious. The bulbs I really re-discovered were the grape hyacinths. That great sweep of blue carpet between the trees was spectacular. We may well get some of those. Needless to say we bought none while we were there – the queues were just too long for us to be prepared to join.

Would we go again? Possibly, though I think we would aim for a midweek trip when it might have been a bit quieter, though I’m sure it would be busy any day. We loved the trees & shrubs as much as the bulbs. We also enjoyed some of the art features & fountains scattered throughout the park.

The fountain just inside the entrance of the gardens

Man at prayer

Smaller fountains

A bronze poppy