Tulip Time in the Pacific Northwest: Tulip Town

I was lucky and had 2 occasions to drive up to the Skagit Valley to appreciate the tulips last year at this exact time. It was so relaxing and so beautiful, I need to encourage you to jump in the car.

This post shows the photos when my friend Amy & I drove up to see Tulip Town. We looked around the grounds, and in the gift shop but the highlight was the hayride around the square field. 

I think I may need to print some photos of tulips and frame them for my kitchen; could there be a better way to add a touch of pink?

We had a great day to take photos and play hooky. I brought us cheese, apples & crackers to snack on in case we didn't find a place for lunch and that worked out perfectly. The traffic can be gridlocked during peak bloom and these are 2-lane country roads. It is best to have a snack along.

Isn't this wonderful? Has it been years since you drove up to see the tulips? If you time it right (maybe mid week?), I know you would love it.

Tulips in the Valley: A Day Trip for Everyone

I want you to think of a day trip to see the tulips in the Skagit Valley as a perk. If you are within driving distance, you should see it.

It is a wonder of the world - one that happens once a year and gets everyone talking. How could you be within driving distance and not go? It's worth it for the Christmas card photo opportunities alone! In a nutshell, the day consists of driving on paved roads admiring the fields (see the yellow and red rows above) and stopping to take photographs - selfie sticks encouraged.

When you are ready to see the tulips up close and in arranged gardens, head to RoozenGaarde or Tulip Town. Before you leave home, be sure to visit the Skagit Tulip Festival website and print the bloom map so that you know which turns to take through the farmland.

After driving around the area, we parked at RoozenGaarde and had a picnic in our car before heading into the formal gardens. The area does have a snack bar, visitor tent with picnic tables (for shade, cover or warmth, depending on the weather) and porta-pottys. Their gift shop is wonderful and I know that you'll want a memento. Of course, they also have a tulip tent where the bulbs you have admired are available for order.

Could we have had a prettier day? Dan had a vacation day on Good Friday and there was sun in the forecast. Everybody get in the car! My mom has spent the winter out in Washington and she has been talking about seeing the tulip fields in bloom for months. I was so very happy that we had a beautiful day to show off our new part of the country. See my post featuring the daffodils here.

RooseGaarde has formal areas planted around their property (most labelled with the variety) and you can bring camping chairs or a picnic blanket to sit on the open lawn and just soak up the beauty of Spring.

There are beautiful plantings everywhere you look and as you can see, the bulbs are in full swing right now. This is a parrot tulip (below). I love the curled edges and touches of green on the apricot petals.

Grab some friends and insist on a road trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington. It will give you the Visual Vitamins TM that you need after a long rainy Winter. 

It's Tulip Time, One Way or Another

It's tulip time, the oh-so-important time frame in the Fall when you need to plant your tulip bulbs so that you are able enjoy them next Spring. 

I must be honest and admit that in my backyard, the squirrels have won.  Until there is some bulb-breakthrough, I can't plant tulips again only to find that they were eaten by my pesky neighbors.  I've sprinkled them with hot sauce, planted them under wire barriers, you name it and they are always gone by Spring. 

My message here is two-fold.  If you have luck with tulips, it's time to get out there and plant.  If you have my situation, it's time to promise yourself a trip to Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan.  There are 6 million tulip bulbs planted and ready for us to ooh and ahhh over the first week or so in May.  Next year the Holland Tulip Festival is May 3-10th, 2014 and I am going.  

My last visit was in 2007 and I miss it!  When the tulip fields are blooming, my heart swells.  

These "Angelique" tulips (above) look like peonies, don't they?

When something this lovely happens only once a year, it is worth it to get out your calendar and commit.  Before school picnics and soccer matches dictate your weekends, write "Tulip Time" on your calendar the first weekend in May (I just did!).  

That way, when you are scheduling your entire Spring, you can glance at your calendar and say, "Oh gosh, I'd love to, but I'll be at Tulip Time enjoying 6 million tulips that day.  Maybe the next weekend?"

Ha! But you know I'm serious.  If you don't put it on the calendar now, it gets very hard to find the time later.  Post some pictures from your trip on my Moments of Delight Facebook Page, ok?

Tulip Time 2009

When I say that Veldheer Tulip Farm in Holland, Michigan has 5 million blooming tulip bulbs, it is hard to comprehend, right? I thought it might help to show you a casual photo from my last visit to Tulip Time in 2007. There are rows and rows of tulips blooming by color and variety. One of my favorites is called "Apricot Beauty." Are you thinking of planting tulip this Fall? Check out a neat tulip season & style guide here.

P.S. If you stop at Veldheer on your way to the Tulip Time festival, you will also see 50,000 daffodils, 10,000 hyacinths and 20,000 crocus blooming too! Simply breathtaking.