Dutch Tulip Season

holland.com

It's spring, and the flowers are blooming!  Even in your home garden or local park, it's wonderful to see color returning to the trees - but there are a few spots around the world where spring is particularly magnificent.  Last year, I wrote about the Japanese Cherry Blossoms (in Japan, not DC).  This year, I'm feeling inspired by the tulips of Holland (in the Netherlands, not Michigan)!

The Dutch are world famous for their tulips.  From mid March to mid May, the land becomes a sea of color, and flowers bring new life to the region.  Holland.com explains it starts with crocus early in the season- then daffodils and hyacinth.  Tulips are the grand finale, blooming brightest by mid April.  Supposedly, all you have to do is board a train or ride a bike through a rural area to see fields full of them... but for the full experience, imagine over 7 million bulbs at the Keukenhof flower park!

holland.com

Not far from Amsterdam, Holland.com says the Keukenhof is the largest flower park in the world.  It attracts over a million visitors and is only open for the season from mid March through May.  I did the math, and that's about 17 thousand guests per day.  I'm not sure what's more impressive, the number of people, or the number of flowers.  I'm sure the pictures don't do it justice.

So why Holland?  There's a lot of history to tulips in the Netherlands.  They were originally brought from the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, and were such a big hit they ended up being used as currency for a period in the 1600s (when the flowers became worth more than the money in people's pockets).  In fact, The Amsterdam Tulip Museum (ATM) says "tulip mania" is a term still used today when talking about an economic crisis.

holland.com

But of course, since this is a weather blog, climate has a lot to do with the flowers' success.  Holland.com says the long spring season and cool nights provide perfect conditions, but ATM elaborates.  It's not just springtime that makes the Netherlands prime tulip territory.  Winter temperatures are mild, averaging between 35-40 degrees (F) from December through April.  That's warm enough to protect from a prolonged deep freeze, but cool enough for bulbs to convert starch into sugar for energy.  Summers in Holland are relatively mild as well.

Another plus is the country's location along the North Sea.  ATM says tulips grow best in maritime climates, so within 30-50 miles of a coast.  In dry periods, the Dutch use polders for irrigation to create constantly watered but well drained soil [Yes, I had to google what a polder is, so for those of you who don't know, it's a low-lying spot of land that's protected by dikes and locks from outside water sources - unique to the Netherlands].  Water can easily be funnelled through canals and ditches to keep the tulips hydrated.

Sure, you can grow tulips in your backyard.  You'll see them all around the US this Spring.  But I'm not sure anywhere can compete with the Netherlands.  They've got this flower down like the backs of their hands!

Stas Sedov, airpano.com