KEUKENHOF GARDENS

The name Keukenhof means kitchen yard or garden. Herbs for the kitchen of the castle of Jacoba van Beieren were also collected here; hence the name Keukenhof. The current site originally provided the herbs and vegetables to the local palace kitchens in the 15th Century. In 1857, the gardens were landscaped by Jan Zocher, a prominent Dutch landscape architect, whose legacy includes Amsterdam’s beloved Vondelpark but it wasn’t until circa one hundred years later that a group of tulip growers initiated a spring flower exhibition at the Keukenhof in 1949. They never looked back. Strolling through these gardens, it is easy to comprehend how the tulip came to dominate the lives of so many Dutch people hundreds of years ago. The national emblem of the Netherlands, the tulip has long been synonymous with Holland and was originally introduced in the 1590s. Tulip mania quickly followed with the crazy selling of tulip bulbs for as much as the price of a house, until the market collapsed in 1637.

However it is not only the tulip that the Keukenhof celebrates. All bulbous plants are showcased here as well as perennials. There is also a great display of stunning orchids, over 35,000 lilies, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus and much more. There are many garden sculptures throughout the grounds and over 2,500 trees, many of which are very old.
The gardens are primarily designed in the classic English landscape style but contain many examples of other garden styles. It is this diversity that makes the Keukenhof so inspiring. For example the charming nature gardens combine wild bulbous plants with perennials and shrubs, and is truly enchanting. There are the fascinating historic gardens which including ancient herbs (culinary and medicinal) and also very old tulip varieties, and the very elegant Japanese country garden. The current park was a section of the sizeable estate of Slot Teylingen, with beautiful untamed bushes and dunes. After the decease of Jacoba van Beieren Keukenhof fell into the hands of rich merchant families. Baron and baroness Van Pallandt invited landscape architects J.D. and L.P. Zocher, designers of the Amsterdam Vondelpark, to make a design for the garden around the castle. This design, in the English landscape style, has always been the basis of Keukenhof.
At the moment the estate belongs to a Corporation. On the initiative of the Lisse mayor of that time and a number of leading flower bulb growers and exporters, an open air flower exhibition was organised here for the first time in 1949. This expanded to an annually recurring event that has always drawn great numbers of visitors from all over the world. This is how Keukenhof became the park that we now know.

Image: from many sources