CHANGING FLOWER SHOWS IN SPECIAL PAVILIONS MAKE KEUKENHOF EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE - Keukenhof - Lisse - Holland

CHANGING FLOWER SHOWS IN SPECIAL PAVILIONS MAKE KEUKENHOF EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE

Lisse, 21 March 2011 – the beautiful Spring park Keukenhof in Lisse contains three specially designed pavilions for its changing and permanent flower shows. These exhibitions help to make Keukenhof an attractive crowd-puller throughout the season. Every week there are new shows in the Oranje Nassau Pavilion. The Beatrix Pavilion is home to an exotic presentation of anthuriums, bromeliads and orchids. The Willem Alexander Pavilion combines basic exhibitions of tulips, daffodils and lilies with special plants such as flowering shrubs, unusual perennials, flowering pot plants and bulbous plants. And this year once again there are lots of new things to experience in all the pavilions.  Flower-filled Keukenhof welcomes visitors daily from 24 March to 20 May.

There is always a wonderful array of flowers to stimulate all your senses in the three attractive flower pavilion buildings, which are well distributed throughout the park. The pavilions are specially designed for the flower exhibitions and give Keukenhof a regal flair. 

Unprecedented variety
Top international flower arrangers Heleen Valstar and Dries Lecke surprise visitors and garden experts alike with their contemporary basic decors and designs. Growers of flowers, bulbs, perennials, shrubs and trees from all over the Netherlands provide the living materials. Their cultivation techniques and experience enable them to supply Keukenhof with top quality plants year after year. The exhibition calendar has been carefully arranged to ensure all of the plants are at their very best. Nowhere else in the world can such a variety of plants and flowers be seen in one single park as here, open this year from 24 March to 20 May.

The theme of Keukenhof 2011, ‘Germany – Land of Poets and Philosophers’ is expressed in a variety of ways in the flower pavilions; some grand and impressive, and some subtle and finely detailed. 

Oranje Nassau Pavilion: weekly themes
Keukenhof’s Oranje Nassau Pavilion will be showing no fewer than eight temporary exhibitions featuring different theme flowers every week. Each week Heleen Valstar and her team will be creating a new flower sensation using the materials provided by specialist growers. The full palette of Dutch flowers will be used, from Amaryllis in the first show to Zantedeschia in the final week.

Besides Amaryllis, the first show from 25 to 29 March will feature the Freesia and the Tulip. Th. C. Hoogenboom & Zn nursery in Roelofarendsveen, for example, is presenting tulips in many shades of red, such as the orange-red Fabio with its fringed petals, the deep bordeaux, almost brown Bloody Mary and the cardinal-red, lily-flowered Pretty Woman. “I select the bulbs in the summer before the next year’s show”, explains grower Ronald Hoogenboom, describing how he chooses the tulips which are ‘forced’ into flower specially for Keukenhof.

The theme ‘Germany – Land of Poets and Philosophers’ is developed using enormous canvases and ceiling elements to recreate the atmosphere and feel of 1920s Berlin. Background music taken from the same era and other details add to the mood. An extra attraction in the Oranje Nassau Pavilion are the daily flower arranging demonstrations using the special theme flowers featured in the show. Dutch flower arrangers of international renown inspire and astonish visitors with their new ideas and ways of using flowers. 

Beatrix Pavilion: exotic and tropical attraction
For eight whole weeks the Beatrix Pavilion provides a setting for thousands of exotic anthuriums, bromeliads and orchids. Anthuriums come in all shapes and sizes: from the classic heart-shape to almost round flowers or even types with separate lobes, and in a wide range of colours, ranging from red, pink, salmon and lilac to orange, white, green and even nearly black.

The bromeliads have many striking features. This family of plants includes the Guzmania with its star-shaped, orange-red rosette flowers and the often variegated and brightly flowered Vriesea. In the world many bromeliads grow in trees. They extract water and nutrients from the air. Exhibiting these extraordinary plants hanging in a natural manner, lends a tropical atmosphere to the Beatrix Pavilion.

Possibly even more varied than the bromeliads is the orchid family, of which Cambria, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, Oncidium, Cymbidium and Vanda are among those on show. The Vanda, which usually has blue flowers, features particularly noticeably, as visitors can pose among a group of ten splendidly clothed mannequins to have their photo taken as ‘Miss Anco 2011’, a reference to the nursery producing this special orchid. “When choosing the clothing we used matching Vandas to show the many ways in which flowers can be used”, explains grower Steef van Adrichem from Wateringen. 

Willem Alexander Pavilion: sea of flowers
From the day of opening on 24 March until the beginning of May, the Willem Alexander Pavilion is focusing on tulips and daffodils, with hundreds of thousands of flowers. But there is much more to see, including a special hyacinth show during the first week, in which the special theme decor is made up of enormous pieces of cake and tea and coffee pots which refer to the German tradition of ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’.  

With 6000 m2, the Willem Alexander Pavilion is the largest of the flower pavilions and it offers a huge variety –  tulips in every colour and shape imaginable, such as single, double, parrot, fringed, lily-flowered and more, daffodils and narcissi in many colour combinations, and of course the flowering shrubs. The flowering shrubs are on show until 25 April and include metres-tall bright yellow Forsythia, some unique examples of the Deutzia (also known as Bridal Wreath), white and pink Lilacs and Vibernum ranging in colour from green to pure white, earning it its nickname Snowball. These are followed from 26 April by the perennials and indoor flowering plants which fill the Willem Alexander pavilion until Keukenhof closes on 20 May. Throughout the exhibition period, flowering bulbs such as Amaryllis, Tulip, Lily, Iris, Daffodil and Zantedeschia can be admired as garden decoration.

New this year is the special ‘Bulbs in Pots’ presentation, in which Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths and Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) play a main role. The growers plant these bulbs in autumn so that they are programmed to flower in spring. These wonderful harbingers of spring come in many colours and shapes, with familiar varieties as well as new. Just like the changing hyacinth presentation during the first week of the Keukenhof season, from 2 to 8 May there is a special temporary exhibition of long-stemmed cut tulips and garden tulips. The natural development of these tulips means that they are at their best during this week, which is why Keukenhof is featuring them in this special show.

From 12 to 20 May the flower show series in the Willem Alexander Pavilion will close with the world’s largest lily exhibition, a spectacular presentation of all that the lily flower has to offer. 

Calendar of flower shows in the Keukenhof pavilions 2011
The exhibition calendar for the three special Keukenhof pavilions promises a varied range of flower and plant shows throughout the season.  

Oranje Nassau Pavilion
25 to 29 March                       Amaryllis, Freesia and Tulips
31 March to 5 April                 Chrysanthemums
7 to 12 April                            Gerbera
14 to 19 April                          Daffodils and Special bulbous plants
21 to 26 April                          Roses
28 April to 3 May                     Alstroemeria
5 to 10 May                             Asters, Irises, Limonium, Lisianthus and Lathyrus
12 to 20 May                           Carnations, Zantedeschia, Bouvardia, Saintpaulia, Kalanchöe, Cut-                                             Hydrangea and Summer flowers (incl. Peonies)

Beatrix Pavilion
24 March to 20 May                Anthurium, Bromeliads and Orchids

Willem Alexander Pavilion
24 to 30 March                       Hyacinths
24 March to 25 April:              Flowering shrubs (Syringa, Viburnum, Prunus and Forsythia)
24 March to 6 May                  Tulips and Daffodils (in beds)
24 March to 20 May                Flowering bulbs, including: Iris, Daffodil, Tulip, Lily, Amaryllis,
24 March to 20 May                ‘Bulbs in Pots’ presentation
24 March to 20 May                Cyclamen, Potted Hydrangea and Begonia
26 April to 20 May                   Perennial Plants
2 to 8 May                               Cut Tulip and Garden Tulip show
12 to 20 May                           Lilies

                                                                       -.-.-

For more information and image material please contact Annemarie M.M. Gerards-Adriaansens, PR Manager for Stichting Internationale Bloemententoonstelling Keukenhof
Telephone: +31 (0)252 465505  Fax: 0252 465565
E-mail: a.gerards@keukenhof.nl
See also: www.keukenhof.nl  for a complete programme and all the special attractions and offers.

Back