Just wanted you Michiganders to know I visited Holland MI

for the Tulip Show this weekend and it was wonderful! (even in the rain).

What a beautiful town and such civic spirit to pay for and plant all those bulbs. (And to keep all the kids from picking them~~it's a $50 dollar fine to pick a tulip!)

What a relief it was to see those lovelies lining the streets and displayed in the parks to dispel all the grey and gloom from the drizzly skies!

And Holland is a beautiful town, and so is Grand Rapids (where we visited next). We were really impressed.

Oh, and we visited Saugatuk, too, which was another pretty place.

Just wanted you to know....

And if you are thinking of going up to see the tulips, most of them were in bloom this weekend (April 24/25), so go on the early side of the festival dates for best viewing.

You didn't come to Grand Haven?????? GASP! You didn't come to Robinson Township. Sigh.

Ha, ha! Well, we weren't invited! (and we couldn't get up that far this time!)

This summer we will be driving thru the western side of Michigan up to Harbor Springs to visit relatives.

And we will have more time.

Lovely state to vacation in.

ttfn t.

Oh i have always wanted to go.
Nice trip eh?
How were the accommodations? I figure
you have to book a year in advance and i just cannot do that.
Julie

tabasco

Did you know that the City of Holland digs up all of the bulbs that have bloomed every year, and plants new ones in the fall? They take the bulbs they have dug up to their dump. One of my internet gardener friends who lives in Holland told me that....

Deann

I know, seems such a waste, but I guess they don't want the straggly stuff you're left with after the blooms. I wonder if people don't find ways of "rescuing" the bulbs?

what a beautiful city!!!-all the west side!!!

glad you got to enjoy it! been a few yrs since i went over to Ludington to
get my 69 camaro!! :)

Each bloom was perfect so I imagine they do plant new ones every year. The city lines both sides of certain residential avenues with several rows of tulips all along the curb. Every hundred feet or so they change the variety. This goes on for maybe 10 or 15 miles.

If I were a homeowner along the route for sure I would want the tulips in front of my house on the route just perfect. I think they said they had 10 or 15 gardeners working on the project. Of course, there are mass plantings in the parks and along the lakefront.

I don't know much about the overnight accommodations in Holland. It seems like they have a lot of reasonably priced hotels. We stayed in Saugatuck along Lake Michigan in a B & B about twenty miles from Holland. Saugatuck is a very pretty lake village with galleries and restaurants and B & Bs and makes a nice stopping place.

Grand Rapids was very nice too. We stopped at the Amway Center Hotel for lunch. A beautifully restored hotel. And went to the Gerald Ford Museum. You would never know Michigan was having economic issues~~Grand Rapids looked very prosperous to me.

After Grand Rapids we drove south to Shipshewana, Indiana Amish country and stayed the night. Bought some asperagus and rhubarb from a farm stand. Then home.

Really nice trip.

My sister lives in Baltimore where the botanical gardens have a tulip show and afterwards they invite gardeners to come and dig the spent plants for their own yards. That makes some sense I guess. She digs every year but I can't say that I've seen them come up!

I came home determined to have tulips next year. It was really beautiful. (-:

I am so glad that you had such a lovley trip. I do love our state. There is so much beauty to be had. I love the upper penninsula, my late hubby and I used to go and see all the sites.

When I was a child my parents took us to Holland for the tulip festival and I loved it so much. I think I should try to attend it again to see it though a different set of eyes or should I say allot older set.

Amy

Hello There
It is beautiful. I've been there twice in the last week. My daughter goes to school there (I just brought her home for the summer), and my singing group sang at the First Reformed Church of Holland last Sunday. If you ever get a chance to see one of the parades, don't miss it. Very entertaining with lots of Dutch costumes and traditions displayed. Lots of fun!
Mike

I will definitely make it back! We had a lovely trip and even my DH enjoyed the tulips and beautiful scenery along Lake Michigan.

(And did I see that marvelous nursery "Walters' Gardens" along the highway??!~~we were going too fast and I couldn't get DH to stop, but next time for sure).