Saturday, 21 April 2012
Holland in Tulip Time: Keukenhof, Part II
I'm trying to be logical about this, following paths that I believe lead me different directions, to other portions of Keukenhof. Cannot see it all, I know, but do not want to circle the same area. By now, closing in on noon and several hours into our visit the crowds are beginning to thicken. No longer can I wait a few minutes and get that prisitne shot uncluttered by people. I swear, if I could ever devise a "remove human bodies from image" button for PhotoShop my fortune would be made.
A beautiful combination with the feel of a meadow: daffodils, golden daisies of doronicum, and blue
forget-me-not like flowers of Brunnera macrophylla. Sturdy, low maintenance perennials. Nice.
Under the beech tree, a woman in the distance provides a sense of scale. A sweep of tulips
of various harmonious color, still in bud, suggests the rich palette a few days will bring.
Elsewhere, geometric, ruler-straight lines of hyacinths cross the bright green sweep of turf grass.
Earlier overcast has decided to coagulate into drizzle. Out with the umbrellas!
We look for places under cover. The Willem Alexander Pavillion is closest so that's
where I head. Lots of other people with the same idea. Displays of tulips and daffodils
and lots of hippeastrum, familiar cultivars such as Aphrodite, Charisma, and
others unknown to me, such as Gervase with its harlequin petals.
The rain lets up and most of us exit for the out of doors. Some rain ponchos,
the occasional umbrella, but all in all, hardy people enjoying hardy plants.
Sweeps of tulips keeping their pollen dry with furled petals bedecked with
moonstone water droplets. Precise planting last fall, Spring flowers the reward.
Tour Comment: Before we even gathered for the tour Donna Dawson of ICanGarden advised on what to bring. She mentioned extra camera batteries and memory card, a extra pair of dry socks each day we'd be touring, and an umbrella. Her gift to each of us was a pack-in-its-own-pocket rain poncho, hood hiding in the collar, tan with a discreet ICanGarden logo near the hem. Very useful, much better than a T-shirt.