Apparently Stripes are The Latest Thing this Season…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This is a largely photographic post… Stripes, stripes and more stripes of amazing colour.

Even narrow strips of land along the roadside, between a canal and a farm are packed solid with blooms. The air is pungent with the smell of perfume, the colours are fresh, bright and there are cyclists and people stopping everywhere to admire the views.

We even noticed a number of tour buses travelling ridiculously (and unlawfully) slowly on the motorway behind us probably in response to tourist pleas to try and catch some elusive photos of the bulb fields en route to their next destination.

Also something funny: at one point where we stopped to take photographs we caught sight of a chicken in the tulip field just across the canal. It didn’t falter or dally  but marched resolutely right the the very end of the long field, and entered the last row of tulips and fussed around there: it probably thought it’s owner will never find her eggs here, sadly she will probably return later in the next days to find them scrambled simply because she’s hidden them so well. Needless to say, the nearby town of Noordwijk has planters full of tulips all down the streets… and it’s clear that stripes are very much in fashion this season, along the Dutch coast just north of the Hague.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Pain of Reaching the Extraordinary Beauty of Full Bloom and then Facing Decapitation…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We have turned off the motorway and found a suitable small road that by coincidence runs parallel to the motorway where we can retrace our way back home but at a slower pace and with stops for more detailed photographs.

Himself has a few hours free this (Monday 6th May) morning but knows a client is due to arrive with work after lunch so we are hurrying a little to make the best of a few hours free time and a beautiful day.

Growing tulips from seeds is a time consuming and difficult business, it takes toughly six years to achieve.

Nature provides a quicker method by producing bulbs that will split into two plants during their cold winter months underground and can be harvested in the spring. The splitting process however requires that the plant puts as much energy as possible into the magic of the multiplication process and not into generating and maintaining the flower and subsequent seeds. Other flowers are highly prized for the seeds but not tulips… the production of seeds invariably  means a poorer quality bulb, and thus a poorer quality bloom from that bulb the following year. Since world-wide sales of some three billion Dutch grown tulips depend on consistent quality of the flowers they will produce the following spring, machines are employed in growers fields to decapitate the flower heads before the seeding process can take place. This of course means that if you want to see tulips out in full bloom you have to be in the right place at the right time.

Many factors determine the exact time that the blooms will be decapitated: this year the flowers arrived very late because the warmer days of spring came roughly one month later than normal. Rainfall, temperature and the amount of sunshine then determine how fast the bulbs bloom and for how long.

The sudden rise in temperatures in the last week or so have seen tulips out en masse, but some are starting the process of producing seeds already so the machines are already in some fields chopping off their heads.

Luckily not all of the blooms on display today are unfortunate tulips waiting for their turn at the guillotine  Himself (the gardening guru of the family) informs me that the other little plants here are Hyacinths… Not only do they  look amazing but they smell fabulous too. If only I could present you with photographs that gave off the same heavenly perfume as we were greeted with as I opened the car door to step out and take photos…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The bulbs were being checked by people walking systematically though the fields… I assume they were checking how far along the seed forming process was…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The decapitating machine is making steady progress down the right hand strip of blooms…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Off with their heads!  (ouch!)… I felt sorry for the poor flowers.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It’s as “pretty as a picture”… and I have the picture frame to prove it…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Break Out Your Sun Glasses, Spring Rolls Up Late …But Parties Hard With In Your Face Colours…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

My mother in law has been asking Himself for weeks to take her to see the local bulb fields in flower.

Unfortunately for her  the European Spring slept in this year and arrived roughly a month later than usual so there were no flowers to be seen in March and the first blooms only came out in force in late April.

In the last week or two the weather has suddenly changed for the better and we  have been treated to some beautiful sunny days.  The bulb fields are now blooming  at a frantic rate and with temperatures rising there is a chance that the petals will have dropped if we leave  catching a good view of them too late. (Most of these  plants are wanted for the valuable bulb beneath the ground and not the blooms we can see above it, so the petals will be left to drop, or the blooms will be beheaded with machines but amazingly none of these will end up as cut flowers in vases. (potpourri anyone?) I’ve taken a few more days annual leave so that I can sort some major family events and luckily, Himself  who works as free-lancer, had a break in workflow yesterday that allowed him to take a few hours off  on a sunny Monday morning. This meant we quickly  arranged to pick up my Mother in Law and soon headed out of the Hague, past Wassenaar in the direction of Katwijk and Noordwijk.

At first we were on the motorway and not being able to pull over and stop meant getting tantalising fleeting glances of bright colours…  there were masses of cyclists on many of the smaller paths and cycleways as people come from all over the region to enjoy cycling along the bulb routes, enjoying the amazing colours and taking zillions of photographs. Naturally I was equally keen to get my camera out, so as we made our way out towards Noordwijk we also started looking for a few good side roads that would allow us to pull over and enjoy a closer view of the flowers.

First however, here are some of the fleeting views I got from the motorway … and I noticed that we were not the only ones enjoying the colourful views.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Native Trees and Flowers that Will Never Wilt…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

There are several quilts on beds on display at the Kauri Museum whilst we are visiting…  all of them striking but one in paticular catches my eye.

It features many flowers, including so very recognisable New Zealand Natives. The red one in the close up is the Kakabeak   (pronounced “Car car beak”)   and  close to it is a yellow flowered one ( it appears more creamy here  for some reason) the quintessential New Zealand flower: the Kowhai, (pronounced “coe  why”) which has a beautiful yellow flower, indeed the name Kowhai comes from the Maori word for “yellow”.

I love how these have all be put together with a dark background to set them off.. and on the edge of the quilt that covers the pillows is an amazing trailing ivy that details some stunning stitchcraft.

Although some of the quilts in the exhibition were for sale, sadly this one was not and I found myself being more than a little envious of the maker, family member or friend to whom this quilt would be returned to when it went “home”.  The fiber fanatics amongst you will understand and appreciate the time and workmanship that goes into these pieces … so let’s get close up and personal with a little more if it…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Where there are Flowers, Floating on the Water…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Netherlands and the flower markets of the world are a trading combination that is centuries old.

Whilst the Netherlands grows  between 7 and 8 billion blooms per year and has been the biggest producer of cut flowers in the world, in the more recent past, it’s role as a Trader of the World Flowers has quite literally “blossomed”.

The Flower Market at Aalsmeer is the biggest flower auction in the world, and the Dutch do not only grow and sell flowers, they also have  very strong  cultural and social links to them too.

It’s totally normal to see people carrying bunches of blooms home, especially on Friday after work so that your house is full of fresh flowers for the weekend, but it’s also customary when visiting, or going out to dinner at someone’s home, to bring  your host a bunch of flowers.

You will find flower stalls  in every suburb of the Netherlands, so it’s no surprise to find that Amsterdam, like many larger centers also has an even larger  “Bloemenmarkt”  (Flower Market).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Amsterdam Flower Market however is not like most in one respect: the  market “stalls” are actually floating on the canal and so you can walk along the canal side and look in and pick out your blooms.

It’s the only floating Flower Market in the world.

The back-sides of these “houseboats for flowers” that face the water have been decorated in many cases with photographic scenes of what the boat contains. In a few cases the backside of the boat is made or either glass or perspex panels so you can see directly inside.

Certainly it’s a tourist attraction, but make no mistake, the locals come here to buy their flowers in their droves (prices can be cheaper because having the “shop” on the water means lower overhead costs for the sellers).

We pass by in our little boat from The St.Nicolaas Boat Club, so first get a prime view at water level and later Himself and I we walk past and see it from “top-side” too.

These shops specialise in selling seeds, bulbs and cut  flowers and you will find them at: Singel, 1071 AZ / Tram: Muntplein: tram 4, 9, 14, 16, 24 & 25 Open: Monday – Saturday 9.30 am – 5.00 pm

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)