Back to Amsterdam-3 Keukenhof

At this time of year, Keukenhof Park is open and this was a must see on any list. Now, I know why. Wow and wow!

Some park history first. Keukenhof means "kitchen garden." The park dates to the 15th C when a countess gathered fruit and vegetables from the woods and dunes for the kitchen of a castle ( 1401-1436). Another castle, Keukenhof Castle, was built in 1641 and the Keukenhof estate grew around it eventually covering 200 hectares (almost 500 acres). The castle gardens were re-designed in English landscape style in 1857 by the same duo who designed Vondelpark (see previous Amsterdam trip information). In 1949, 20 flower bulb exporters conceived a plan to use the estate for a permanent exhibition of spring flowering bulbs.The park opened to the public in 1950 with 236,000 visitors that year.

Today, Keukenhof Park is open for 8 weeks annually. It is an international showcase for the Dutch horticultural sector and still emphasizes flower bulbs. Some stats: 7 million bulbs, 100 bulb companies, 500 flower growers, 800 tulip varieties. All of this sits on 32 hectares (~80 acres) of flower gardens plus separate flower shows of orchids, tulips and lilies. One source said it was the most famous and largest flower park in the world.

The easiest way to visit the park is actually to do a bus tour. We walked to the tour office,and were led on foot to the loading area for the buses. On the way to the park, we stopped to visit some fields of blooming flowers

On arrival at the park we were turned loose to visit the park on our own. We were to be back on the bus at a specific time.

The bulbs are all planted the previous autumn, overwinter and bloom in the spring. We learned there are only 30 gardeners who do the planting. All of the bulbs are dug up in summer. We aren't sure if the dug up bulbs are then sold or stored and re-planted. We tried to get a clear answer to this question but weren't successful.

Aside from seeing all the great flowers, you could buy all kinds of bulbs and we were offered a free bag of dahlia bulbs on our "tour." We declined the dahlia bulbs as we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to bring them into the country anyway. Our tour guide said they used to give away free tulip bulbs but tulips don't do well in hot, humid climates and they got complaints from guests.

B recognized our tour guide as soon as he saw her. I needed to hear her speak for recognition to set in. It was the same guide that led our tour of the windmills, etc., at Zaanse Schaans last year. She had a very distinct pattern of speech and it was instantly recognizable.

The overall theme at Keukenhof this year was the Golden Age. Some of the types of gardens at Keukenhof included: Inspirational, Delft's Blue, Romantic, Sensory, Beach ( including frittilaria), Vintage. When I saw it I commented that I thought the plant was something called frittilaria. Don't ask me how I knew that, but I did. I don't understand labeling this garden as Beach. Hmmm. I'm not sure I understand the Golden Age designation either. It doesn't really matter, though, the place was gorgeous.

There was also a windmill. You could climb the interior stairs to a platform where you overlooked a field of blooming flowers. Pretty.

Lastly, there was a calliope. We walked past it on the way to get some hot chocolate ( excellent by the way) and it was still working. After the hot chocolate it had closed down for the day. 

For those of you who can't see enough flowers, here are two videos of more photos. The second one is just orchids. Same reminder as always: you may not be able to see the videos on small, handheld devices.