Tulips fields and details in the Netherlands, Spring 2017 in Bollenstreek

Every April the flower fields between Leiden and amsterdam turn into rainbow of bulb flowers in bloom.This year I went there with a 100mm macro lens and concentrated on the details, lines and shapes! 

I hope you enjoy them, I did even if the wind was very freezing ;-)
Let me know which o the pictures you like the most :-)

Fabulous tulip flight above Bollenstreek, lost in Dutch spring colours 2015

 

Its difficult to (even try to) describe the magnificent flower-glory one could see this year end of April while flying over the Bollenstreek. Luckily for us, tulips and hyacinths were decorating the fields at the same time  in all possible colours. Add a clear blue sky, nice sunshine and a friendly pilot and you have a great spring experience for years to remember. Enjoy the colour flower-power!!!

Dutch tulips (and flowers) fields 2015...

This year, as of mid April the Dutch flower fields around Haarlem,Noordwijkerhout and Sassenheim became an amazingly colourful mosaic again! Happily for us, photographers, most of the bulb flowers (daffodils, hyacinths and all sorts of tulips) decided to come out and bloom at the same time. From white to dark purple, from light lavender through yellow and orange till flashy red and romantic blue, the Bollenstreek-area and parts of Flevoland are currently magical places to visit! Have a look for yourself...A lot of my visitors have difficulties to believe that most of the flowers are simply cut as the reason why they are planted is to get the bulb, not to sell the flower themselves.Once you are in the flower field the question comes: how to take the best pictures. Some love to take the lines, otherwise go for close-up/ carpets of colours. This year I tried more exotic positions, such as going down on the ground for a full portrait of flower+blue sky and for some macro fun with my toy (35mm, f 2.8)...

Bloemenvlucht/ flower fields flight in april 2014 with LionAir

After seeing the flower fields from close and inside we were curious to see them again from up in the air. As last year we contacted the friendly and professional LionAir and book one hour "bloemenvlucht". With Michel as pilot we flew over Leiden, Keukenhof, Lisse, Noordwijkerhout and then along the coast: Wassenar, Scheveningen, Monster and Rotterdam...Again an amazing experience and perfect weather with fantastic colours!

Spring 2014 in the Netherlands: flower fields with daffodils, hyacinths and tulips

The Netherlands never seize to amaze me! Here we have the online "buienradar" (literally "storm radar") telling us in how many minutes next rain or storm is coming, very practical when you are by bike...When you have a drink with friends you may spot the funny "zonnenradar" (sunshine radar) on some beer bottles (most probably to remind the Dutch that they get sunburnt quiet easily)... and in the spring we have the "bloemenradar"-page (flower radar), showing people in pictures how many flowers are already out! So after learning and checking the flower radar on Friday I made my weekends plan:-)

 

Spring has been very nice, gentle and warm with us this year, here in the low lands! The great and sunny March invited all spring bulb flowers to come outside the ground earlier than usual (and aslo much earlier than last year)! Already for two weeks colourful flower carpets decorate the famous Bollenstreek between Leiden and Amsterdam. Here are the visual proofs of the flower-photo-tour! Enjoy the colours!

More Dutch flower fields, Bollenstreek in colours 2013...

 

This post has all pictures featuring me. Usually I do not post many pictures with me...However this time I was lucky to do the flower-fields-tour with a good friend and colleague of mine, who is an amazing photographer (dont miss the chance to enjoy the fantastic gallery of Roland here). It was also him, who asked me what happened with all these amazing flowers we have seen (+photographed of course:-). A lot of my visitors get really shocked (...and some even dont believe me) that these beauties are simply cut and the thrown away, usually next to the fields (thats how I know what happened with them).

 

...and then the next question arrived: why are they planting them at all? Tulips and the other spring flowers reproduce every year. If the bulb is planted not too deep (around 7-8 cm deep than it will grow bublettes. These bublettes (the tulip grows usually 2 till 3 f them) are separted (after the mother bulb is dug out around 1,5 months after the flower dies off) and can be sold. And this is the reason of why so many flowers (tulips, daffodils and hyacinths) are planted  in the low lands :-) The Netherlands exported 3,6 billion flower bulbs in 2010, the biggest customer in the lasty ears has always been the US...

Spring 2013: Dutch flower fields, lost in daffodils and hyacinths...

 

Every year hundreds of tourists get lost in the Dutch flower fields in search for unique pictures or angles...Due to the long and very chilly winter all Dutch bulb flowers are delayed this year in the low lands. So when my first "flower"-visitors arrived last weekend and we went searching for flower fields, no tulip fields were in sight. However we could literally swim in white-purple-pink-rose-yellow sea of aromatic hyacinths and some daffodils...All pictures are taken in the fields around Lisse&Noordwijkerhout.

Colourful Dutch tulip fields 2012 edition, around Noordwijkerhout

 

One of the most colouful and fantastic ways to enjoy tulipland Holland in the second part of April is a walk/bike through the flower-bulb area...My favourite/secret place is Noordwijkerhout. Around this village every year the tulip and other flower bulbs paint the fields in amazing colour combination and nature masterpieces!

We even flew over the fields into picture above, have a look here:

Dutch flower/tulip fields 2012: seen from the air with Dakota DC3

 

Welcome to Tulipland 2012! Its is again this colourful (however extremely chilly) time of the spring, when the flower-bulb-area between Leiden and Amsterdam offers tons of different colours...So how about looking down at all this beauty from the air? Today I am taking you with me on board of the Dakota DC 3 (built in 1944 in USA) for a flower-tour in the air!

 

This trip starting in Schiphol-Oost will take us over the blooming Bollenstreek, the spring garden Keukenhof up to the beach resort Noordwijk, then we will fly over Noordwijkerhout; Sassenheim and Lisse! Enjoy the geometry of the flower fields, the flashy colours of those tulips, daffodils and hyacinths...In my next entry we will visit the same fields from the ground:-))

 
Can you try zo fidn the word "love" in one of the tulip fields on the pic below (I am helping you by saying: reeeed:-):

 

And last but not least lets have a quick look in the waiting hall&another second look on the fantastic Dakota DC3! A hug thanks goes to the captans& the weather for the sun and blue sky...