In this video, we watch as tulips, which you can find at plenty of places which are not the Keukenhof, explode into bloom. Whole fields are transformed, as the tulips flower and cover the ground in a sea of colours. However, once this magical transformation happens, the tulip farmers do something quite strange.
Spring is the season for tulip farmers in the Netherlands. Every spring, fields and fields of tulip plants blossom and transform the landscape, exploding in a kaleidoscope of colour. In April specifically, the blossoming tulips burst into life and the rows of flowers engulf the countryside.
Tulip bulb farmers aren’t interested in these flowers, rather, they are interested in what’s underneath. The farmers begin the process of harvesting the bulbs by, astonishingly, cutting the tulip flower heads off with a large lawnmower.
There is a method to this seemingly mad practice though. Decapitating the tulips strengthens the bulbs, ensuring they are healthy. A few months after this process takes place, the bulbs will be ready to harvest. After which they are packaged and sent all over the world.
The video below takes us through the extraordinary process of harvesting the tulip bulbs. You’ll certainly remember this the next time you’re walking through the bloemenmarkt in Amsterdam.