Tulipmania

In April 1974 my parents went on a coach tour of Holland and my teenage self was reluctantly dragged along with them. It was our only 'foreign' holiday and my first encounter with muesli and with duvets. It was also cold and rained most of the time. I didn't really enjoy it until we came to the Kuekenhof tulip gardens. It was a riot of colour and I succumbed to tulipmania. Fast forward almost fifty years and my garden is quite small but over time I've managed to squeeze in about a hundred tulip bulbs. The heavy cold clay soil doesn't really suit them so they only last two or three seasons which means I usually plant about thirty new ones each year. Within this rotation I always try to have some Apeldoorn varieties like this Apeldoorn elite - long lasting large egg shaped blooms on tall stems with superb colour combinations.