Though most people will think that's crazy, the gardening fraternity will understand. It was March, my husband and I both had to use up holiday before the turn of the financial year, but didn't want to go far. It was a prescription for Keukenhof.
This 79-acre garden about half an hour outside of Amsterdam is the most spectacular place in the world to see spring bulbs. They plant more than 7 million here each year. Some are in regimented beds, some naturalised, some meandering in swathes through woodland or around lakes. The garden began as a communal project by Dutch horticultural companies to resuscitate their industry after the second world war. It's evolved into something reminiscent of the Chelsea Flower Show, though devoted to just one season of gardening.
Keukenhof is only open for two months every year and, as every gardener knows, bulbs flower and fade so quickly that the place will look different from one fortnight to the next. We were here early in the season, for a garden dominated by crocus, late-flowering daffodils and stretches of hyacinths in every colour available, loading the air with heady scents. The supporting cast included early-blooming dwarf iris, grape hyacinths and chionodoxa. (The last is something I planted just a single clump of in my own garden last year, and was so impressed I want more.) Flowering quinces, cherry trees and modern sculpture get the colour off the ground. Perfectly maintained lawns provide a green backdrop, making the colours all the more vivid.
For the most iconic Dutch flower, the best weeks are still to come. But there are early tulips. The short varieties showed up as blocks of colour in formal parterres, while others added a shocking pop to mixed beds with hyacinths or daffodils. One eye-wateringly magnificent bed of reds and pinks was a joy to
look at, though too bright for most home gardens. Tulip lovers aren't left disappointed, however, because pots of later-blooming varieties that have been forced are moved out along the paths.
Things get more serious in the pavilions dotted around the park. These are reminiscent of the marquees at the Chelsea or Hampton Court flower shows, with some devoted to flower arranging, some to specific species. (All with restaurants or coffee shops in which to take a break.) It's here that the avid gardener could get out her notebook and start working on her wish list. Colour blocks of named tulips … some of them with flower heads the size of large soup bowls … divide displays on specific species. Every hyacinth you could imagine here. A forest of every variety of lilac branch in bloom there.
Also like the RHS flower shows, one part of Keukenhof was dotted with purpose-built, themed gardens. A recycling garden, an exercise garden, an outdoor kitchen bordered by raised beds. These, and everything else, sponsored by different companies, of course. The serious gardener can buy a programme listing all of the sponsors, so you can track any particular bulb back to its originator and buy some for your own garden.
It's in the buying that I was disappointed. I visited Keukenhof almost 20 years ago. Before I lived in Europe and had my own garden to fill. It was less sophisticated then. The swathes of formal planting were here, but I don't remember the pavilions or the themed gardens. I vividly recall, however, ending the visit in a vast shopping area, where different sponsors sold summer bulbs to take with you and let you place orders for autumn delivery. I had gone this year expecting that, but it's no longer a feature.
Most gardens can't justify devoting so much space to plants that require such effort and time for a short blooming season. No flower show can approach this scale. Keukenhof is unique; a destination for every serious gardener at least once in his or her life.
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