Keukenhof is a tulip garden where various tulip developers and growers show off their latest and most extravagant tulip varieties to other professionals and collectors. The show makes a dazzling display for ordinary visitors. Our Road Scholar tour group took a canal trip through Amsterdam, but since we had done that a few years ago, we opted to join the rest of the cruise passengers on their visit to Keukenhof.
Even though it was late in the season, and several areas of the garden had been cut back, almost all the tulips were in full flower. And, even though this was the last week the garden was to be open, many of the blooms had not even reached their peak.
Before we arrived at the park, we stopped to see a few fields that had not yet been harvested. We learned that the tulips are grown, and have their flowers cut off to encourage a larger bulb and larger bloom to develop the next season. Most tulips we see have been grown like that for three seasons before we see the flowers they produce, or the bulbs we grow in our gardens.
Some azaleas and orchids were also represented, as well as a few bouquets of sweet peas.
But the real stars of the show...tulips!
We had all but exhausted ourselves on our very first tour day, so it was a relief to get back in the bus for the trip to meet the ship, which had sailed from Amsterdam to pick us up along the river.
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