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 :-)

Tulips in Flevoland 2014, Noordoostpolder is a colourful corner to see!

 

Second half of April tons of tourists come over to the Netherlands to see the spring park Keukenhof and also the flower fields. Most of them however only travel around in Bollenstreek, the flower-bulb-area between Leiden and Haarlem. HOWEVER there are some amazing tulip fields a bit more north in Flevoland. The wide and long fields in this flat and new Dutch province are perfect for growing of potatoes and .... flowers! There is space, abundance of colours and guess what: no other tourists. So if you are curious to spot and photograph some amazing tulips fields just drive to Noordoostpolder and enjoy the view. There are also sign for a bike tulipfestival-route, so you cant get lost:-)

Bloemencorso 2012, the fantastic flower-parade in Haarlem...

 

For the 65th time the most colourful flower-power event, the Bloemencorso, took place in the Bollenstreek, the flower-bulb-area between Leiden and Amsterdam...This one-weekend-lasting display of fresh flowers respresenting different subjects is always an impressive and charming show to visit and photograph. Despite the chilly and windy weather, the sky was fantastically blue and all participants were parked in the centre of the cute and cozy Dutch town Haarlem the whole last Sunday!

 

The topic this year was communication! the winner was a platform representing colourful parrots:-) My personal favourite was a guy reading newspaper, looking very lazy with one foot in the air...I also loved the mix of creative flower-presentations with beautiful Dutch architecture...and of course this awesome blue sky and warm sunshine!

Dutch tulip fields...

As every year end of April is the time one can bike, walk or drive in the middle of the Dutch flower fields...Usually one may admire first the daffodils, then the hyacinths and last but not least the famous tulips...But as last winter was so long and cold this spring offers all fields at once:-)

Some visitors still get completely shock when the experience the "cutting tulip head"-rituals. Yes, the Dutch dont bother or sell the flowersone see, they plant them for the bulbs.

The Netherlands produces some 4.32 billion tulip bulbs, of which 2.3 billion (53%) are used as the starting material for the cultivation of cut flowers. No fewer than 1.3 billion of these (57%) are grown in the Netherlands as cut flowers. The remainder goes to countries within the EU (0.63 billion) and outside the EU (0.37 billion).

The main buyers outside the EU are Japan with 179 million, the US with 147 million, Norway with 60 million and Canada with 48 million bulbs.