Tulip Festival Skagit Valley

Every year, about 400,00 visitors come to Skagit Valley in April to soak in the stunning display of fields of blooming tulips. Located 60 miles north of Seattle, this area boasts hundreds of acres of blooming flowers scattered across farms throughout the valley.  Hence the Tulip Festival is designed as a driving tour around farms and nurseries, with stops in galleries and museums offering special events.

 We decided to visit the Roozengaarde farm, which produces more than 750 acres of flowering bulbs, and half the country’s tulips and tulip bulbs.  This family-owned farm has a history of growing tulips all the way back to 1700s in Holland, and continued its bulb growing heritage in the US when one of the family first migrated here 1947. 

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A unique feature of the Roozengaarde is a five-acre garden with more than half a million bulbs. We were told that each year the display garden has a different design and layout.

The exit of the garden leads to fields upon fields of tulips planted in neat rows and juxtaposed to achieve maximum color effect. The backdrop—the majestic Mount Vernon.

 In many of the farms like this one, the tulip fields are rotated – they will be planted in the same location only once every 6 years. Hence, you see different tulips each year.

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A spring flower that is planted during the autumn months, once the tulips begin to bloom, they usually stay blooming for about two weeks. This year, the fields will peak in colors from about 15^th to 26^th April.

If you are wondering what do the farms do in other months, in summer, some farms grow peonies and dahlias. Roozegaarde also grow tulips and other flowers in their greenhouses everyday of the year.

Enjoy the tulips!