At the Keukenhof Park, in the town of Lisse, Netherlands

 “Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”

― Hans Christian Anderson, The Complete Fairy Tales
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(in western Netherlands) At this time of year, the Netherlands (as a whole) is usually carpeted in beautiful tulips, which normally attracts a huge number of visitors. The town of Lisse lies in the center of the flower fields between Haarlem and Leiden. With Hillegom, it is one of the two great commercial centers of the Netherlands’ bulb-growing district. It is also the site of the State Bulb School and Laboratory. The annual flower exhibition (from March to May) is held on a former country estate around the 17th-century De Keukenhof Castle, with its gardens that cover 65 acres (~26 hectares).

+ Lisse, in South Holland, is known for the Keukenhof Park and the surrounding tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil fields in the park's gardens. Just one kilometer to the west of Lisse, Keukenhof, the world’s largest bulb-flower garden, boasts more than seven million bulbs and a total of 800 varieties of tulips. It normally attracts around 1.5 million visitors during its eight-week season, when its fields and planted displays of multicolored tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are in bloom. Visitors can rent bikes outside the gardens or take a cruise from Keukenhof's windmill to view the "Garden of Europe," which is in full bloom year in April and May, when the tulips that have become symbolic of Holland are in their peak season. The gardens and pavilions here display spectacular collections of not only tulips, but also hyacinths, daffodils, orchids, roses, irises, lilies, and other flowers.

+ Dating back to 1857, Keukenhof is found in the heart of what is called the Bollenstreek, or bulb region of South Holland. A large flower parade through this region, called Bloemencorso Bollenstreek, is one of the largest in the world. (By the time the Keukenhof season concludes this year, since many travel restrictions have been relaxed, the flower exhibition is expected to have received more visitors than usual, from all across the globe.)

+ The history of Keukenhof dates back to the 15th century. Countess Jacoba van Beieren (Jacqueline of Bavaria) gathered fruit and vegetables from the Keukenduin [kitchen dunes] for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. (Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 and the estate grew to encompass an area of more than 200 hectares.) Landscape architects Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, who also designed Amsterdam's Vondelpark, redesigned the castle gardens in 1857. That park, in the English landscape style, still constitutes the basis of Keukenhof. In 1949 a group of 20 leading flower bulb growers and exporters came up with the plan to use the estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs, signaling the birth of Keukenhof as a spring park. The park opened its gates to the public in 1950 and was an instant success. (2022 is the 73rd edition of Keukenhof.)