There are a couple of tulip growers in the Skagit Valley that participate in this festival, planting and growing millions of tulip bulbs of all kinds. The one I visited was the largest -- Roozengaarde.
Located in the town of Mount Vernon, Roozengaarde was established in 1985 by the Roozen family and Washington Bulb Company, Inc. The Roozen family business of growing Tulips, Daffodils and Irises is the largest in the world, covering Skagit Valley with more than 1000 acres of field blooms and 16 acres of greenhouses. They also sell bulbs through a catalog, as well as cut flowers.
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| This interesting fellow greets you above the ticket booth. It's only $5 to get in. |
Everywhere you turn, there is a riot of color. The garden beds near the shop are full of swaths of tulips in every possible color and pairing.
Out in the fields are large blocks of color planted in majestic rows.
Personally, I preferred the more intimate beds near the shop, but that might have been because the people were starting to annoy me.
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| D'oh! |
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| A pair of species tulips. This is more or less what wild tulips looked like, before people started hybridizing them. |
They have every kind of tulip you can possibly imagine. They have tulips that look like peonies...
Tulips that look like lilies...
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| Naughty bits |
Tulips that look hungry...
Or like a hairbrush...
Tulips that look like a fiery sunset...
Tulips that look like they're sneezing...
Or dancing...
Tulips doing a fan dance...
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| More naughty bits |
Tulips that look like they have light bulbs inside them...
Tulips as big as my head...
They even have tulips that look like tulips.
They had the most superb examples of my current favorite tulip, Princess Irene. Theirs were so much nicer than the ones I put in my garden this year, much bigger, with better veins and brighter color. I hope I remember to buy more tulip bulbs from them in the fall. I only bought a handful last year, and planted them late.
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| Isn't Irene a beauty? |
Oh My, Oh My! I did enjoy myself.