2013-11 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Washington
Hello All,
Continuing with our adventures to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival our next stop would be the gardens at Tulip Town. But, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the beautiful farm homes in the valley all decked out with tulip and rhododendron landscaping. In our eyes they were awesome. Here is an example on one of the homes.
Continuing with our adventures to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival our next stop would be the gardens at Tulip Town. But, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the beautiful farm homes in the valley all decked out with tulip and rhododendron landscaping. In our eyes they were awesome. Here is an example on one of the homes.
Anthony DeGoede, owner of the
Skagit Valley Bulb Farm, immigrated from Holland to Canada in 1956, then moved
to Mount Vernon, WA, in 1957 where he joined his brothers, Henry and John. In
1983 he purchased his business which is now known as “Lil Tulip Town.” To this
day the family operates their bulb farm together.
You can see looking at this authentic Dutch windmill that the sky was pretty ominous when we arrived.
You can see looking at this authentic Dutch windmill that the sky was pretty ominous when we arrived.
Tulip Town doesn’t have large
mass plantings like Roozengaarde. Their plantings are more in small groups of
the same variety of tulip. Without a doubt, both gardens are lovely. Here are
some beautiful examples from Tulip Town.
These are the fuzzy edge
variety. Since our last writing we have learned that they are hybrid fringed
tulips and get their name from the distinct frayed edge of the petals. We still
like our “fuzzy edge” name! Really unique aren’t they.
These amazing tulips are known
as “flaming parrots.” They were simply phenomenal!
If you love flowers and color
like us you won’t be disappointed with a visit to Tulip Town.
From the gardens we moved out into the fields of
Tulip Town. They allowed us to walk on the farm roads around the edge of the
fields. Only workers were allowed in the rows of flowers. As you can see between
the rows it was pretty wet and mucky from the days of rain in the area. The
farm roads weren’t much better!
It is an understatement to say
the fields were beautiful—they were gorgeous! The nasty weather didn’t dampen
our spirits.
As you can see some varieties
bloom later than others.
While walking around the rows
every now and then a spectacularly colored flower just required us to drop the
camera and take a shot of it.
This sea of yellow is a field
of daffodils.
We loved using this barn
complex in many of our photos. It just seemed to add another element to the
photos.
There was a kite club flying
their kites in an adjacent field. It was interesting watching their maneuvers.
There were many different styles of kites being flown.
Also, in the following photo you can see a blue wagon being towed by a tractor. If you didn’t want to walk the fields you could ride in the wagon for a nominal two-dollar fee.
Also, in the following photo you can see a blue wagon being towed by a tractor. If you didn’t want to walk the fields you could ride in the wagon for a nominal two-dollar fee.
Workers would walk the rows
harvesting the superior flowers for use in floral arrangements. It was
interesting that they hold the flowers upside down to prevent them from being
damaged. Bunches would then be carried back and loaded on the truck in the
distance.
At a certain point workers “top” the tulips. In
the following photo you can see where a variety of red tulips had been topped.
Cut off blossoms can be seen lying between the rows.
With the weather turning from
bad to ugly we decided we had better start making our way back towards the
gardens. Of course we were snapping photos all the way. Even with the dark
overcast sky it was still a beautiful place!
Visible here are some of the
many flags from countries around the world displayed at Tulip Town. It made for
a nice touch.
Miss Barb’s shoes got so wet
that the soles came loose. Next time we will pack some rubber boots. Even with
our wet feet we thoroughly enjoyed our couple of days at the Skagit Valley
Tulip Festival.
Our next adventure will take us on one of Idaho’s thirty-one Scenic Byways. Hope you will ride along with us.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Our next adventure will take us on one of Idaho’s thirty-one Scenic Byways. Hope you will ride along with us.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns