Spring Tulips, anyone? Updated 17/11/16 - Floriade in Canberra 2016

PrincessInOz

Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Spring has definitely sprouted here....

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And with it, come the sneezes and hayfever!



However, there is one small business/farm up in the local hills that will occasionally draw me out and about in Springtime.

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This place....sells the Prince of Orange of all flowers.....

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Tesselaar's is a family owned business and have been doing mail-order bulbs for the last 55 years. The family is originally from Holland....and every spring, for about 4 weeks, the farm is opened for a display of tulips. The family put the word out that the tulips had bloomed early this year and so, I made the effort to head for the hills on opening day to take a stroll around their 'garden'.


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And my more artsy shots of the day......


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I'm hoping to head up to the hills again in a couple of days time. It will be close on 2 weeks since this visit. Hope the tulips are still blooming!


princess::upsidedow
 
So beautiful! Tulips are my absolute favorite. We have a tulip festival a few hours away that we try to attend each April. Makes me so happy. Thanks for sharing!
 
Wow, what a gorgeous place to visit! I love seeing your pictures, Princess!
 
Tiptoe thru’ the Tulips 2012



I have to admit that I am looking forward to a bit of sunshine after a rather wet and cold Melbourne winter.

The weather is slowly warming up over here…but on one of the days last week, it dawned beautiful and blue and sunny and temperatures in the low 70’s.

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If it stays at this temperature, I’ll be happy. But I suspect that in 4 months from now, I’ll be complaining about the heat.

Still…..I made the most of the glimpse of sunshine we saw and decided that I definitely needed to tiptoe through the tulips.



Tesselaar is located up in the Dandenong hills in Melbourne, about an hour’s drive away from me. The family is originally from Holland and they have been growing and selling tulips for over 50 years. During the springtime, they hold the annual tulip festival. I was there this time last year....so I thought I'd add this year's pictures to the collection.


Seems like a lot of other Melbournians had the same idea as me.

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I tried hard to steer clear of people in my pictures….

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…and in the end, I just decided to focus on the flower power on hand.




Yellow…the colour of sunshine.

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Pink….Pretty in Pink.

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Orange….zesty, vibrant and spicy!

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But I have to say, I’m more attracted to the deeper richer tones of purples, reds and the Queen of the Night.

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Hope you enjoy the spring colour and here's to next year!




princess::upsidedow
 


When It's Spring, Again...It's Tulips Time; 18 Sep 2014



t was a typical cold and rainy day in Melbourne! Where else would one go? Tiptoeing through the Tulips at Tesselaars in the Dandenongs where it rained, hailed and shone for me.


I missed the 2013 season because I was away on vacay; so I was determined to go-see the spring blooms again this year.







I've been photographing the spring blossoms on this one tree every time I go. No point breaking the tradition, right?







The tulip fields were in bloom.




























It wasn't all only tulips. There were drifts of daffodils as well.










There were a number of garden artworks that I would have loved to have in my garden.



















As the song goes....If it's spring again I'll bring again...tulips from Amsterdam......where windmills abound.











There were plenty of Dutch icons around.






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But we're really here for the tulips, right?


The colours in bloom on the day I visited included yellow.....


















....purple.....

















....pink......






























....and some orange.








I mentioned that it rained.






It was so cold and wet that none of the tulips opened.







Not that I was complaining. I just love the tulip shape and the closed flower suits me just fine.






























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This is the first time I've seen entertainment on offer mid-week. Normally it's just at the weekend.





I was delighted with the change. It really is the best of both worlds.....low crowds mid-week and enough entertainment to keep me on my toes.







The day really isn't complete without food. Over the years, Tesselaar's has added more food options to their Tulip Festival.












My morning tea consisted of a latte with poffertjes.






And I decided on Kibbeling for lunch; with tartare sauce, of course.








Roll on 2015!




princess::upsidedow
 
It's Tulips Time...Again; 13 Sep 2015



It's been a very cold winter in Melbourne.







So cold that for the first time in 10 years or so, the tulips didn't bloom at all for the first day of the Tulip festival! It was pretty much green fields up in the hills!







I had pre-paid for my ticket before even heading up to the farm and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they thought it was a poor start to the season as well. They gave me a free ticket to return anytime during the rest of the season. Cheers!







Especially.....when it was all bad during my meander through the tulips.













There was still a few early tulips out for me to capture them.





















I still like the two-toned tulips.











There is just something dazzling about contrasting colours.







There were a few double petal tulips out.







Someone said they look like peony flowers. I'm not sure how I feel about them. They just don't quite look like tulips to me!
















 
I did take some time to capture the statues and artwork in the garden this year.







I liked the whimsy of the Indian motorcycle.







And the mirror mosaic car was fun!






It was an interesting New England feel Windmill!







I also reacquainted myself with the miniature replica on the grounds.






This was reputed to be the biggest clog in the World! At the very least, it was the biggest clog in the Southern Hemisphere.






I also spent some time listening to the organ calliope.






It added a very cheery note to the otherwise grey weather day.

 
Aside from tulips, there were other spring bulbs in bloom as well.



























The pick of the crop? The Magnolia!







That bush was just in full bloom!











It was a pretty decent morning; but I have to admit that I was hoping for more colour. With a return ticket in hand, I think I'll be checking the weather over the next few days and seeing if I can sneak another trip back up to capture more spring colour!



princess::upsidedow
 
Tulips Time...Re-do; 3 Oct 2015



It was the last weekend of the 2015 Tulip Festival and I took the opportunity to take another tiptoe through the tulips. Seems like I wasn't the only one!







The weather was unseasonably hot and dry for early October. Sadly, I think we're in for a long, dry summer this year. For now, I just enjoyed the brilliant light.







The tulip fields? What a difference 4 weeks makes!





















Tulips, tulips....everywhere!







Check out the contrast in these two re-do shots!













The fields were definitely a-blaze with colour this time round.







It was Irish weekend at Tesselaars. But we really didn't engage with it.














 
Springtime DownUnder 2016


It's Spring again in the land downunder.
I'm a little late with this year's update...but better late than never, right?

This year, we decided to change things up a little. Rather than head to Tesselaar's for our annual fix of spring bulbs, we headed a little further afield.

Floriade. The annual spring fling is held in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, every year. I've been meaning to go-see for a number of years and this year was finally the time to go.

Canberra? Lots of galleries, museums and state buildings.

Old Parliament building. It's been renamed the Museum of Australian Democracy. What can I say? Public servants obviously have no sense of humour. This is now known as the MAD house.






New Parliament. Suitably impressive!





The War Memorial and museum.





From the steps of the War Memorial looking down Anzac Parade down to the MAD house and New Parliament.

 

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