Today was a day for tulips, lots and lots of them! My friend Judy and I headed down to the
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on a day that had the lowest chance of rain for the week.
Last year we went on April 12 and were a little early for the best display. Today we saw at least 70% of the tulips in bloom, and I think our favorite must be the huge pink and red tulips above. I took lots of pictures of this pretty pink thing (below) that has so many petals it almost doesn't even look like a tulip, but it is.
The
RoozenGaarde family has created gardens that take your breath away. I learned last year that every single bulb is planted fresh each year, and the gardens are meticulously designed to give every visitor maximum satisfaction. There were plenty of people there, even on a cool and cloudy weekday, visitors from all over the country. The cost is $5 per person, worth every dime.
It's almost impossible to give a true idea of the beauty in all the different arrangements and beds composed of myriad varieties. There are three main flowers: daffodils, tulips (of course), and grape hyacinth. This year I saw three different kinds of hyacinth: the regular blue, some with a pretty white top, and a completely white variety.
The tulips on the right are just now beginning to bloom, while the ones on the left are in full flower. The grape hyacinth are arranged in many of the beds to look like a waterfall (to my eye anyway). We wandered around the beds and exclaimed over the different tulips until we had almost reached saturation. We could hardly take it all in, but then we went to check out the big fields of tulips behind the gorgeous manicured gardens.
The mountains were obscured by clouds and mist, but it didn't take away from the magnificent riot of color to which we were treated. We asked a passerby to take a picture of the two of us for posterity. She happily obliged.
She even took two so I could choose. Somehow the only pictures in the entire batch that didn't need to be straightened were hers. I don't know how I always manage to get my pictures sloping down to the right; it seems inevitable unless I try to compensate, and then they skew uphill. Fortunately for me, iPhoto's "straighten" tool works just fine. Afterward, we headed to LaConner for lunch and to warm up. It was pretty darn cool today, but I didn't see a raindrop until we were on the highway heading home. It's my lucky jacket, don't you think?
:-)
wow! the sculpted, shaped beds are beautiful, but until you showed those fields, you really don't realize just how many blooms they plant! just wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI do love tulips. I never get tired of looking at them. Seems to me like you had a pretty good day.
ReplyDeleteoh wow that big field is just amazing....i love tulips...bet this was worth every bit of that 5 bucks...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite flower is the tulip. My father planted a field full of them but they weren't lined up like these in the photo, nor were there so many on his land. What a wonderful place.
ReplyDeleteYour photos just get better and better. I have been to the Netherlands quite a few time and the gardens in your shots brought all those lovely days back to me. PK
ReplyDeleteJust stunningly beautiful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou two are the best tulips of the bunch!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, this looks like tulip heaven. I really like the view of the tulips under the canopy of tree branches in bloom. And that field is just amazing.
ReplyDeleteGreen with envy here. And this post is additional incentive to plant the 400 or so tulip bulbs currently in boxes on our back deck.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely post. Thank you lovely lady.
The Pixiehousehold was down there today too. We probably passed each other at Roozengaardes!
ReplyDeletePS. Fabulous photos!
Can you imagine stooping down to plant all those bulbs??? Their backs must have hurt! That's the reason why I hate to garden. Watering my plants is enough for me! Lol.
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous. Those tulips look amazing. In fact those double ones look more like peonies than tulips. Great photos Djan.
ReplyDeleteWhat an experience to wonder among that many flowers, DJan... must be millions!
ReplyDeleteWheeee.. the colours are just so beautiful. I have never seen white or white-tipped grape hyacinth before. They're cute. Lovely photos, DJan. Thanks for bringing us along.
ReplyDeleteDJan the photos are brilliant. We have a similar garden way up here in St. Andrews, approx 22 minute drive from my house. It is called Kingsbrae Gardens and also well worth the few dollars to enter and walk around and look at everything. They do not however, have the large fields like your photo, but do have a large variety of plants , flowers and trees all blooming and very lovely indeed.
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to think that your jacket is lucky indeed and very nice photo of you both too :)
May I ask you how you get your text to scroll and the background stays right where it is. I have been playing around trying to find a background that says "Me", but cannot figure out the scrolling text like yours. Any advice. Thanks dear
Magnificent....astounding....gorgeous....beautiful...stupendous....dazzling!!!! Oh DJan, these images you've shared are soooooo darned pretty. What else can I say. Yes, I loved it all. And as you say, $5 entry fee was worth every dime. And thanks to you, I got the senior discount today...FREE! We went to the botanical gardens over the weekend, here, and their new 'house'...the butterfly house was a special treat...filled with colorful blossoms, fountains, AND butterflies.
ReplyDeleteGlad to read that the rain stayed away 'til you were headed home.
These are some of the most beautiful tulip photos I've ever seen!!
ReplyDeleteWow, Jan!!
To be surrounded by this beauty and these colors must have been like standing in heaven.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos with us.
Love and hugs,
J.
What an array for an eye feast! Those tulips with all the petals are just stunning! And you two look like happy campers, indeed. Thanks for bringing me along. ;) I think your jacket has turned into a lucky jacket, yes.
ReplyDeleteAwesome flowers and awesome photos. We don't have an awful lot of tulips here so your pictures are appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThose flowers are just beautiful. I have to say that fields of tulips, daffodils, or other spring flowers is one my favorite sights in life.
ReplyDeletethe rows and rows are breathtaking!!
ReplyDeleteI love the shot of you and the lady in the amazing hat
A display to rival the ones in Holland.
ReplyDeleteWhat are these tulip fields for? Do they get sold?
Oh my gorgeous. I do love tulips, daffodills etc....
ReplyDeleteBeautiful tulips, just like Holland! Now I do envy you that day. All those colours, just gorgeous. I know a bit about bulbs because my Dutch Opa owned fields like the ones you showed. When my mum first came to England, he used to send her bulbs to plant in her tiny English garden. She tried to make it look like a miniature Holland and I think she did pretty well. I'll have to dig out the photos, if I can find them.
ReplyDeleteLove those curly tulips. Aren't they unusual.
What beautiful Tulips! I have been looking forward to this post for a few weeks..so glad you went..that first photo is exceptional..and that fluffy multi petaled tulip is a Peony Flowered Tulip..stunning! That field of tulips is some sight..I looked at it a long time..thanks:)
ReplyDeleteOh, I just found this post. I'm catching up with blog reading. As you'll see, we made our own trip to the tulips. Wasn't it just amazing this year?!
ReplyDeleteLove the photos. I too have the problem with sloping photos.
ReplyDeleteYikes! These are such amazing photos! When I have more time I have to get back and see what I missed when I was away.
ReplyDelete