26. The Awakening of The Keukenhof
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After a sleepy two years away from crowds, The Keukenhof Tulip Gardens unveiled a massive spectacle this spring in the small nook of Lisse in The Netherlands.
The Keukenhof is home to artwork, ponds, all sorts of trees, 7 million flowering bulbs and other flowers, and a few slightly disturbed wildlife that had lived a peaceful existence the past two years. The tulips steal the show visually but honestly the pockets of hyacinths were the most heavenly smell on earth and stole the show in their own way.
The Keukenhof legacy stretches back to the 15th century. ‘Keuken’ means kitchen in Dutch and ‘Hof’ means courtyard/gardens. Countess Jacoba van Beieren harvested from the property potager (Keukenduin - kitchen dunes) for her Teylingen castle in a neighbouring town. The official Keukenhof castle was built in 1641 and the estate grew to 200 hectares.
The castle gardens were redesigned in 1857 by Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, two landscape architects that also designed Vondelpark in Amsterdam. They favoured the English Garden style, which still dominates throughout the Keukenhof.
The history of tulips in The Netherlands began in the 16th century with their arrival during the start of the spice trade. I will spare you a history lesson but if you are interested there is a blurb here that explains the origin story easily. You can also get into Tulipmania here.
I grew up in Ottawa (Canada), where we have our own Tulip Festival of bulbs gifted yearly by The Netherlands for sheltering the Dutch Royal Family during WW2. So tulips never seemed to entice me the way they do others, in fact I got pulled into Zadie Smith’s disdain of tulips since I also love peonies more. But living in The Netherlands has given me a newfound appreciation for the plant as I see more and more species that I had never known about before. It is quite amazing how the Dutch have managed to influence the tulip and create so many magical genres of the flower.
The Keukenhof didn’t become a mecca for springtime tulips until 1949 when a group of 20 bulb experts decided to come together and create a tulip festival. It was a success since the first year it opened to the public in 1950 and continued annually (minus covid blips) since then. It is only open for six weeks per year and tickets sell out fast. It spends the rest of the year tended to by gardeners, plant experts and letting the wildlife roam free to enjoy the sanctuary of the now 32 hectares.
The small open window and mass appeal makes for a tourist nightmare, even if you get there early. It’s pretty unavoidable but the vast property allows for enough space to find your own corner to enjoy the florals.
The estate houses different buildings with exhibits of orchids, cut flowers, an array of voluptuous tulips and others. Personally, I believed the orchids and cut flowers exhibits to be overrated, mainly due to the mannequins and cheesy decorations. If you stick to the outdoor gardens and the rare tulips in the greenhouse, it can be the perfect afternoon. You can also take a boat to further explore the property, we opted out after witnessing a large group of tourists be a bit too bold with the boat captain and instead migrated to a quieter section of the gardens. And pack a picnic, we did not and none of the food on the premises looked very promising. Except the strawberry ice cream which is amazing but perhaps not the most nutritious breakfast. So we ended up at a Fish Market in Haarlem with the best fish and chips of your life on this side of the pond - maybe not the most nutritious breakfast either..
There are numerous little stalls throughout the Keukenhof selling unique Amaryllis and Tulip bulbs for the cost of lunch for two and artwork inspired by the gardens. It’s worth a perusal but if you live abroad you cannot take the bulbs with you, unfortunately. Although it has not stopped some people I know, as long as you put them in tea box or wrapped in underwear in your checked luggage - shh you didn’t hear it from me.
Some things nourishing me this week:
the tiny ferry in Amsterdam Bos
ma’moul, Lebanese easter cookies made by friends, this picture may be cute but Lulu thought it was quite cruel since she was not allowed to eat the cookies and instead had to watch me eat them all in one sitting.
spicy margaritas and then my aesthetically terrible but functional attempt at a tajÃn rim and green juice at home.
sumac regrowth. I stole this sumac from Nico’s grandparents backyard in France last summer as it was sprouting from the roots of a much larger sumac that dominates the yard. I planted it in this garden box and it proceeded to die slowly much to Nico’s smugness. I read through all the blogs and decided that it might regrow back in the springtime and it was just unhappy about the move and taking a long nap. I was correct and now it is gorgeous and flourishing and I am the smug one.
casual cow sighting by the Nieuwe Meer
Enjoy the new moon and solar eclipse this week on April 30th/Eve of Beltane for those who celebrate <3 Thank you so much for being here and I will see you next week!
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