Tulipmania!

The Keukenhof is spectacularly beautiful! Mom, Dad, Kevin and I admired the 35 hectares of beautifully designed gardens in Lisse.

The design for this year's display began after last season's close in May when last year's bulbs were dug up and destroyed. Beginning in mid-September, 30 gardeners worked for about 3 months to hand plant the 7 million bulbs in the 2014 gardens. The bulbs will flower for about 6 1/2 weeks at which time the cycle will begin again.

In order to achieve 6 1/2 weeks of continuous flowers, the bulbs are planted in layers, three deep. The first spring bulbs are on top, the middle layer flowers next and the late bloomers are in the bottom layer.

While at the Keukenhof, we saw many other interesting plants and flowers, including a beautiful orchid display in one of the pavilions. We climbed the windmill for a view of the farmer's tulip fields and Mom and I joined a canal cruise through the fields. In addition to a close up view of the fields, we saw many birds and ducks, including a grebe holding his freshly caught fish and a Canada goose sitting amongst the tulips!

It was a great day and I am looking forward to returning in a week or two to see the gardens again and how they have changed.