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Spring gardens at Keukenhof, the Netherlands (Scarborough photo)

Nobody does flowers like the Dutch.

If you're ever in the Netherlands, particularly in the springtime, take the kids to see the Keukenhof gardens, just outside Amsterdam in the town of Lisse (a lovely area, with lots of things to do.)  Even if your family is not normally botanically inclined (mine sure aren't) the acres of beautifully-groomed, colorful flowers are a real crowd-pleaser.  "Keukenhof" basically means "kitchen garden" in Dutch; originally, herbs were grown here for the kitchen of Jacoba Van Beieren's nearby castle.  

I don't know how in the world the Dutch get all of those plants to bloom at the same time, nor can I imagine the meticulous measuring it must take, in "blank" dirt months earlier, to get all of the purple/yellow/red/white/pink floral whatchamacallits in those artistic curving patterns, but it is a sight to see.  If your family loves gardening, the entire country is paradise.

There are kid-friendly spots, too....a maze, playground and special menus in the park restaurants.  Look for the mini-pancakes called pannenkoeken.  There are stylized gardens to inspire the adults with all sorts of ideas for creative green things to do with your own backyard.

You can even buy bulbs in the park for your future garden fantasy, but I'd recommend having them shipped rather than trying to figure out lugging them through airports and customs.

I'll be writing up a post soon on visiting Amsterdam, but meantime I wanted to have you think about tiptoe-ing through those (Dutch) tulips....

Update 23 April 2007:  This post was featured in the Carnival of Cities, hosted by Home Turf Media. Take a look....and tour some of the world's cities at the same time.

Technorati tags:  travel, family travel, Amsterdam, Keukenhof, flowers, bulbs, the Netherlands, Europe