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November 16, 2009
Keukenhof Flower Park: Bowing to the experts
I love gardening, and when I travel I’m always on the lookout for new ideas to bring home to my garden in New Hampshire. Some ideas are more successful than others (the wildflowers I saw in Ireland’s Ring of Kerry didn’t quite pan out), but tulips are always a safe bet for me—because they need cold temperatures in order to bloom. Just one little victory for our famously frigid neck of the woods.
While I think I’ve done well with tulips in my own garden, I know when to bow to the experts—and visiting Keukenhof Flower Park in the Netherlands was definitely one of those times. The park’s nearly 80 acres are covered with a Technicolor tapestry of blooms, with every flowerbed perfectly manicured and crisscrossed by shady footpaths. Just about every color of the rainbow blossoms here—though you won’t see tulips in true blue or jet black, since they don’t naturally occur and are very difficult to replicate.
While my own garden will never be as perfect as even one single flower bed in Keukenhof, I still like to think of the Netherlands when my tulips bloom each year. Does your home ever remind you of your travels? Tell me your story at
harriet@gct.com
I’ll be featuring Russia and our Holiday River Cruises soon in Harriet’s Corner, but I welcome all of your stories.
Harriet Lewis