The real world is far away as you stroll the winding paths of the Keukenhof, past soft green lawns where blue crocuses, yellow daffodils and red tulips bloom profusely. The Japanese cherry scatters its pink blossoms, a Dutch flag flutters on the windmill against a clear blue spring sky. Here Miffy lives with her dog Snuffie in a cute little house, annex souvenir shop; here is no place for malicious viruses or war in Ukraine.
‘Some things are timeless’, says director Bert Siemerink, who watches with relief the stream of visitors on the opening day of his Keukenhof. Young couples taking selfies next to a field of pink tulips, noisy Asian families with prams, groups of ladies with walkers. ‘Every year we create a safe fairytale world with beautiful flowers. The world is on fire, but here you can relax.’ What also helps today, says Siemerink, is that the sun is shining.
The Keukenhof was closed for the past two years due to corona, as a result of which the spring garden lost 10 million euros. Major renovation projects were postponed, but the 40 gardeners continued to plant. In the coming eight weeks, Keukenhof hopes to attract at least 700,000 visitors, less than half than the 1.5 million visitors in peak year 2019. 80% of the visitors come from abroad and tourism is not really picking up yet.
Exuberant atmosphere
The atmosphere in the garden is exuberant. “I missed this so much,” says an Indonesian lady in a pink wool dress. According to her, Keukenhof is one of the most beautiful places in the world. ‘Every week something different blooms here!’ Two girls from Latvia have settled down next to a patch of red tulips. ‘We wanted to see the symbol of the Netherlands.’ 19-year-old Julia Chyrc from Krakow, Poland, looks like a flower herself in her outfit of red tulle and white sunglasses. ‘My favorite is the tulip. The way it grows straight up, blooms briefly and then dies, that’s just life.’
‘Hopefully we will break even this year’, says Siemerink. He emphasizes that Keukenhof is a foundation. ‘Actually, we are a showcase for the floriculture sector for their customers, which visitors can also walk through for a fee.’ This has been the case since 1949. Not many visitors notice that between the flower beds there are metal signs with names such as Meelébo BV or Holland Bulb Market. The visitor is actually looking at their range for this year. Plans to extend the season with roller coasters or holiday homes have no chance, according to Siemerink. ‘I am a gardener at heart.’
Comeback classic tulip
Gardener Stefan Slobbe is overjoyed that people are walking around in the park again. He and his colleagues dug seven million bulbs into the ground by hand last fall. ‘Then it’s nice that people come to see the result.’ Slobbe is pleased to note that the classic tulip is making a comeback this year, at the expense of fancy varieties such as Forbidden City (white inside, pink outside) or Mama Mia (a pink cotton candy with fringes). ‘The classic tulip is sleek, has one color and radiates cheerfulness.’ The 43-year-old foreman is less than satisfied with the Japanese cherry blossoms, that other spring hit. “They make way too much mess.”
Shaking his head, Slobbe points to visitors who are squatting or kneeling on the grass. “See how deep the point of that shoe is in the grass? The roots won’t survive that.’ He is going to tighten a string around the beds again. “Every year we try to start without deposits. That’s nicer.’ Sometimes Slobbe secretly follows from the corner of his eye Asian visitors who seem to be shooting an entire feature film in Keukenhof. ‘They arrive with a huge trolley and change behind a blanket.’
Opposite the Willem-Alexander pavilion, where hundreds of varieties of tulips are exhibited in squares of one square meter, the De Groot family from Dordrecht takes a breather on a bench. ‘Yesterday we were at the beach and today we are at Keukenhof’, says 44-year-old hairdresser Mirjam. She says she and her family have decided to do as many fun things as possible before Prime Minister Rutte appears on television again with bad news. ‘Before you know it, everything will be locked up again or it will be war.’