My husband and I visited Keukenhof a couple of years ago. I think they have several tricks up their sleeve for the big show. They must pick tulips that are known for uniformity. They also plant very, very densely so if a few flowers aren’t in bloom yet or are spent they just sort of blur into the mass. We also watched them replant a bed that had gone over. They had racks of tulips planted snuggly three to a pot that were just coming into bloom. They just pulled out the gone over plants and popped the new tulips out of their pots and plopped them in. Voila instant color. At the time they were doing this Keukenhof was only going to be open another week. It’s all about selling bulbs to the public. Color and tidiness sell. Kiosks were scattered around for ordering tulips. From the US? No problem. They could take your order. The Dutch are also masters at vertically layering bulbs. What you can’t see in the pictures from bored panda is the bulbous “understory”. In many beds the earlier bulbs have already come and gone. Yes, their ratty foliage is still there but your eye is drawn to the big gaudy display. Most of the beds had signs that told you all the bulbs they had used so if you wanted to duplicate the show at home you’d know what to buy at one of those conveniently located kiosks. And when the show is over? They pull out and compost all the tulips and most of the other bulbs. I think the river of muscari might be a permanent feature. Each fall they plant something like 7 million bulbs provided by the big Dutch bulb companies. Keukenhof was a lot of fun. Yes, it’s big and gaudy and you’re normally sharing it with lot of people but everyone is very happy to be there and very polite. Everyone waits for people to take their picture before cutting across, etc. Sort of like the Disneyland of bulbs. Lots of flash but a lot of fun. Jan Jeddeloh, Portland, Oregon, Zone 8 > On May 4, 2020, at 1:43 PM, Mary Sue Ittner via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > These photos are amazing. Warning: Bored Panda can be a time sink. Does anyone know how they manage to get every flower to open at the same time? > > https://boredpanda.com/tulip-garden-keukenhof-phot… > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…