Dutch garden Keukenhof opens for 75th time to expose millions of tulips

By Selman Aksunger

LISSE, Netherlands (AA) - One of the biggest tulip gardens in the world, Keukenhof opened for the 75th time in the Netherlands.

Located in the northern city of Lisse, the garden welcomes more than a million Dutch and foreign visitors every year.

As tulips have a short life span, the Keukenhof garden is open from March 21 to May 12, with the flowers at their best in April.

Keukenhof 75 project leader Annemarie Gerards told Anadolu that the gardeners plant 7 million tulip bulbs by hand, from the first week of October till mid-December.

“We have roundabout 600, maybe 800 tulip varieties,” she said, adding that 80% of the visitors are foreigners.

Russian visitor Yulia Mikhaylova told Anadolu that she came to see Keukenhof during her trip to the Netherlands.

“The colors bring me happiness. … The spring is here,” she said.

Charles Dudley, who came from London, said the vibrant colors of tulips feel like they have been “painted.”

The garden of 32 hectares hosts 40 gardeners, and visitors can also enjoy a walking path of 15 kilometers (9 miles).

The Dutch royal family is vastly supporting the garden.

A group of tulip producers decided to launch a joint exposition in 1949, which led to the opening of Keukenhof in 1950.

It is also an international platform where producers show their products.

The garden is redesigned every year, inspired by fashion.

Although Türkiye is their motherland, tulips are identified with the Netherlands.

The flower has an important place in the Dutch economy.

Dutch producers grow more than 4 billion tulips every year, and export almost half of it.

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara