LISSE — On 24 March 2016, Keukenhof will be opening its gates for the 67th time. When it closes eight weeks later, some 800,000 visitors from across the world will have visited the international flower exhibition. As such, Keukenhof makes a contribution to tourism in the Netherlands. Keukenhof now has a hundred flower bulb growers supplying bulbs to the park and five hundred flower growers participating in the flower shows. Nearly fifty million people have visited the park since it first opened.
Mission
Keukenhof’s mission, now and in the future, is to be the international and independent showcase for the Dutch floricultural sector, with a special emphasis on flowering bulbs.
Keukenhof for “the trade”
Keukenhof is the platform for the Dutch floricultural sector. For the exhibitors and participants in the flower shows, it provides a superb showcase for their bulbs, flowers and plants. The park is redesigned every single year. Keukenhof’s designer takes inspiration from the latest trends and adapts the design to suit the specific wishes of growers. This in turn provides inspiration to the 800,000 visitors who gather new ideas to apply at home. In the flower shows, the arrangers also put the latest gardening ideas into practice. All of this enables Keukenhof and the growers to support and strengthen each other. Large numbers of photographs of Keukenhof make their way all over the world, reaching millions of consumers. The world’s press is also eager to report on all the beautiful things on display at Keukenhof.
Of the total share of visitors, 15% has links to the trade and numerous trade events are organised for growers. Keukenhof presents an excellent opportunity to network and meet business contacts, and the organisation has strong links with all the relevant organisations in the sector.
The park
Keukenhof originally focused almost exclusively on flower bulbs, but now has much more to offer. The historic park, which dates from 1857 and was designed in the English landscape garden style by Zocher, forms the perfect backdrop for the flower bulbs. Visitors can become acquainted with cut flowers, plants and tree nursery products.
Each year, fourty gardeners plant bulbs at reserved locations throughout the park. At the end of the season, these bulbs are harvested, and a new cycle of planting, blooming and harvesting begins again in the autumn.
In order to ensure that Keukenhof always has a new look, the planting is redesigned every year. The plants are carefully selected so that visitors can enjoy bulbs in full bloom throughout the entire period Keukenhof is open. The seven million flower bulbs are supplied completely free of charge by a hundred exhibitors who could hardly imagine a better showcase for their products.
Keukenhof inspires its visitors with a range of different styles of gardens and interiors, in which flower bulbs and bulb flowers always play a key role. The different parts of the park vary from the English landscape garden to the renovated Japanese country garden. The garden offers surprising perspectives and exciting vistas and brings out the very best of the ancient trees. In the natural garden, shrubs and perennials are combined with naturalised bulbs. The historic garden is home to old varieties of tulip and uses these special varieties to demonstrate the tulip’s long journey prior to its arrival in the Netherlands.
The seven inspirational gardens give visitors the unique opportunity to gain ideas for their own gardens.
For children, Keukenhof has a maze, a playground, a Miffy house and a petting zoo. A treasure hunt takes them along the most beautiful places in the park.
Keukenhof has its own sculpture garden. A network of artists will be exhibiting around 100 pieces. The art exhibition is characterised by a wide variety of styles.
Flower shows at Keukenhof
The pavilions feature a changing selection of 20 flower and plant shows. Growers exhibit a wide variety of flowers and plants in all different colours and shapes. Of course, all of them are of the highest quality! This is the pinnacle of the competition among the growers to decide the best horticultural product, varying from tulips to roses. An expert judging panel will choose the best flower in each category. Consumers will also have an opportunity to judge the flower shows and choose the most beautiful product.
For years, Keukenhof has reserved the thousand square-metre Beatrix Pavilion specifically for orchids. This show is the most beautiful orchid show in Europe. Another traditional leading attraction is the lily show in the Willem-Alexander Pavilion. In its 6,000 square metres, visitors can admire approximately 15,000 lilies in over 300 different varieties.
The Oranje Nassau Pavilion showcases the use of flower bulbs in interiors. It demonstrates how flower bulbs can be applied in different styles of interior design, from classic to modern. Several well-known arrangers will stage demonstrations of how the flowers can be used in surprising ways to create original bouquets.
The first pole placed for the new entrance hall Keukenhof
The increasing interest in Keukenhof asks for a sustainable solution for Keukenhof to welcome and receive the national and international visitors. A new hall with all the required facilities for the visitors will be the entrance to the most beautiful spring park in the world. When it will be completely ready, in spring 2017, Keukenhof will have a carpark where 4500 cars and 1000 coaches can park. Keukenhof will start using the car park in the coming spring. This will have a positive effect on the traffic management around the park.
Keukenhof works contiually on quality improvement and service for its guests, and in 2016 a better free wifi service will be established.
Tulpomania
The tulip is the distinctive icon of Netherlands throughout the world. And Keukenhof can do no other than give the tulip centre stage. The Willem-Alexander Pavilion is full of tulips in bloom. An exhibition being organised in the new Juliana Pavilion shows the history of the tulip, 17th Century tulip mania and today’s tulip as contemporary icon. The renovated Historic Garden contains extra information about the origin of the tulip.
Theme for 2016: The Golden Age
The Keukenhof theme for 2016 is the “Golden Age”. From Golden Age to Golden Future. The Golden Age is the era when the Netherlands had a prosperous period in trade, science and art. This is also the period when the world was being discovered and the tulip trade flourished. The highlight is a flower bulb mosiac about the Golden Age. The mosiac shows a Delft Blue tile on which the trade across the seas and the rich canal-side houses of Amsterdam are depicted. The mosiac has an area of 250m². There are 100.000 flower bulbs used: tulips, grape hyacinths (muscari) and crocuses. Besides the flower mosiac the Golden Age provides the inspiration for many of the flower shows in the Oranje Nassau Pavilion. New in 2016 are a Golden Age inspirational garden and a Delft Blue garden.
Tourist Interest
Many international tourists still come to the Netherlands for the special Dutch icons: tulips, windmills, Rembrandt and the canals of Amsterdam. These typical Dutch icons tell the story of the Netherlands. Keukenhof works together with major tourist partners to positively promote the Netherlands.
Keukenhof’s importance to tourism in the Netherlands is huge. Annually, 800,000 visitors from more than 100 countries are welcomed. . These don’t only include individual visitors, but also companies, institutions and organisations wishing to show their (international) guests what the Netherlands has to offer.
Approximately 75% of visitors come from abroad, with the most important countries being Germany, United States, France, United Kingdom and China. There is a particularly significant growth in the number of tourists from America, China, India and South East Asia. The bulb sector in general, the tulip and Keukenhof in particular, are vital to the tourist image of the Netherlands.
The park acts as a large magnet, attracting visitors to its own sector as well as the hospitality industry, retail, overnight accommodation, transportation companies, museums and other attractions and events. In addition, Keukenhof attracts visitors during a period when there are few other attractions available.
Keukenhof is the vital key attraction: for the floricultural sector, for the Bollenstreek region and for the Netherlands, making a significant contribution to the image of the country. For example, the website of the highly regarded travel guide, Lonely Planet, opens with a feature on Keukenhof. Wikipedia has just one photograph of the Netherlands: of Keukenhof. More recently Keukenhof was awarded the Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor.
The history of Keukenhof
Keukenhof started as an initiative on the part of ten flower bulb growers and exporters who create a showcase for the flower industry. In 1949, they opted for an ideal location: the gardens around Keukenhof castle.
For many years, Jacoba van Beieren was the hostess of Keukenhof. In the 15th century, she was the owner of the land where Keukenhof is now located. At that time the area was still a piece of untouched nature, used only for hunting and to gather herbs for the castle’s kitchen, which is where the name Keukenhof originally comes from.
Countess Jacoba van Beieren was born in 1401 and died in 1436. During the period from 1417 to 1433, she ruled Holland, Zeeland and Henegouwen. ‘Never a dull moment’ is perhaps the best summary of the life of this somewhat tempestuous woman, who married four times, spent a couple of years in prison, and lived in exile for some time in England. One of her favourite pastimes seems to have been waging war – she was even willing to go to war with former husbands. In 1433 she was forced to abdicate from all of her Counties. She withdrew from public life and, at the age of just 35, she died of tuberculosis in Castle Teylingen, not far from Keukenhof.
Following the death of the Countess Jacoba van Beieren in 1436, the large estate passed through the hands of several wealthy merchant families, including Baron and Baroness Van Pallandt. They asked the landscape architects Zocher, who were also responsible for the Vondelpark in Amsterdam and the gardens of Soestdijk Palace, to design a garden around their castle. The English landscape garden they created in 1857 still forms the basis for the Keukenhof park of today.
The windmill at Keukenhof is more than a century old. It was built in Groningen in 1892, and was used to pump water out of a polder. In 1957, the Holland-America Line bought the mill and donated it to Keukenhof.
Facts and figures about Keukenhof
Keukenhof is open for eight weeks each year
Annually, Keukenhof welcomes 800,000 visitors
75% of visitors to the park come from abroad
The park covers 32 hectares
Every year, 7 million bulbs are planted
Keukenhof features more than 20 flower shows
The bulbs are supplied by 100 exhibitors
There are eight inspirational gardens featuring gardening ideas for consumers
Sculpture garden with approximately 100 works of art
For the latest programme information and inspiration, visit the official website for the Keukenhof Gardens.
Opening hours
Monday – Sunday: 08:00 until 19:30
Keukenhof Gardens,
Stationsweg 166a,
2161 AM LISSE