The planting season for Keukenhof 2017 officially started on Thursday the 6th of October. And there’s more movement in the park in Lisse. Buildings are being broken down or adjusted, the new entrance building is nearly finished and there will be an additional 2 ha. show garden.
By Hans Neefjes
hansneefjes@hortipoint.nl
The theme for 2017 is ‘Dutch Design’. The floral mosaic is linked to this theme and could be photographed from a cherry picker on Thursday the 6th of October. It is a reference to painter Mondriaan and architect/furniture designer Rietveld.
The mosaic measures 250 m2 and consists of 80,000 bulbs. Wood chips are indicating the colours that will be visible in spring. Double Early tulips ‘Pieter Geraeds’, ‘Marechal Niel’ and ‘Cardinal Mindszenty’ represent the colours red, yellow and white. Muscari ‘ Super Star ‘ provides the blue accent. The crocuses in four colours, which will initially bring colour to the mosaic, haven’t been planted yet. The black beams will stay in place to accentuate the lines at the height of the flowers later on.
There’s traditionally a lot of press during the official planting moment. A reporter from TV-West is interviewing one of the 45 gardeners who will be doing the planting in the coming weeks. Keukenhof’s patroness, Jacoba van Beieren, can be spotted in the background.
Some of the bulbs are temporarily stored in the Beatrix Pavilion.
The soil temperature is important for bulb planting. Harmful fungi such as fusarium remain active at temperatures of more than 12 degrees. 5-10 degrees is ideal and that requirement is met in Lisse according to this thermometer.
In addition to the planting work, there are lots of building works going on throughout the park. Here, we can see what the entrance looked like last season. The pond remains, but the restaurant and the shops are getting a makeover.
The old staff buildings (on the top right-hand side) will be removed. This part of Keukenhof hasn’t been open to the public until this year. In 2017, a good 2 ha of forest will be transformed into a green corridor connecting the natural garden with the bulb garden. 1,000 m3 dune sand was used to create the elevations. The path is nearly finished.
Another reminder of the past is ‘Entrance 7’, which used to be the place where the office staff was based. The old ticket offices with their characteristic pointed roofs will remain, just like the shop and the restaurant that looks out onto the large pond. Everything else will be demolished.
The Oranje Nassau Pavilion gets a new entrance. The staircase to the toilets underneath the pavilion will be renovated as well.
The new entrance building is situated on the edge of the park. The Office Staff will already move in in week 41. All construction works are on schedule.
The area in front of the entrance building hasn’t been surfaced yet.
The outline of the square in the front is clearly visible from above. Planting beds and water features are created using large blocks of natural stone. They make a nice showpiece, but will also serve as places to sit down for a minute or to meet before entering the park. And they ‘automatically’ indicate the routes to the ticket offices.
Part of the surface of the road out, onto the Stationsweg in Lisse. From the coming season, this part will be for regional busses and touring coaches only. Two separate lanes, which the old ticket offices and a shop had to make space for.
The connection from the new entrance to the existing paths in the 32 ha park is nearly finished. Two trees are still in the way…
The planting work will last a few more weeks. It’s keeping 25 permanent employees, plus an additional 20 people, busy at the moment.
Seven million flower bulbs need to be planted each year. Once the ground has been fertilised and prepared, the planting beds are marked. The selected cultivars are then carefully planted. This particular bed is being filled with hyacinth and tulip.
