Duncan MacDonald  
Jakarta  24  April   2016   

Keukenhof     Willem-Alexander Pavilion
    Approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area
of 32 hectares (79 acres)

The Tulip were originally a wild flower growing in the Central Asia and were first cultivated by the Turks as early as 1,000 CE

Carolus Clusius Clariss, was a Flemish doctor and botanist of French descent. In 1593 he became the Chair of Botany at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Here he established one of the earliest botanical gardens, where he introduced and grew a wide variety of flowering bulbs. He received some bulbs out of Turkey from his friend Ogier Ghiselain de Busbecq, the ambassador of Constantinople (presen-day Istanbul). Ogier had seen the beautiful flower called tulip, after the Turkish word for turban, grow in the palace gardens and sent a few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. Clariss planted the first tulip bulbs in 1593, and hence 1594 is considered the official date of the first tulip flowering in the Netherlands.
This was the start of the amazing bulb fields we can see today

Shinta in Keukenhof Gardens                                       Lilium 'Sunny Joy'   Lilies      

                    Shinta in Kaukenhof gardens

Dutch Master in Kaukenhof

Shinta in Kaukenhof gardens

Various Kaukenhof bulbs

Kaukenhof gardens are open from 24 March to 16 May 2016

                    Shinta leaving Kaukenhof gardens