Woodland Tulip Festival opens
Organizer says it will get more colorful with each passing day
Visitors admire “Manhattan” tulips on Sunday.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
If you go
• What: Ninth Annual Woodland Tulip Festival, which includes food, music, arts and crafts, and children’s activities and entertainment. Taking photos in the fields is encouraged. Bulbs, cut flowers, flowers in pots, gifts also are for sale.
• Where: Holland America Bulb Farms, 1066 S. Pekin Road, Woodland.
• When: Daily in April, with activities on weekends.
• Cost: Admission is free. Parking is $3 on weekends.
• Information: 360-225-4512 and habf.net.
Grow your own
If you’re looking to add tulips to your yard, Benno Dobbe and his daughter, Nicolette Wakefield, say to try these:
• Angelique, light pink and white.
• Flaming Parrot, yellow with a red flame.
• Orange Monarch.
• Ida, yellow and red.
WOODLAND — Undaunted by the gray, damp Sunday, Benno Dobbe says the tulips are two weeks late but the crowds will come for the colors of April.
“Not a disappointment. No, no, no,” said the optimistic chief executive of Holland America Bulb Farms, where the Woodland Tulip Festival opened over the weekend.
“Everyone is gearing up for later. We are looking great for Easter.”
There were some who ventured to the festival Sunday.
The Berg family from Castle Rock sauntered through the show garden, with its 136 varieties of tulips, perhaps half of which were in bloom.
Laura Berg said the visit was nostalgic, as she worked in the fields when she was just out of Woodland High School years ago. The fields in those days were operated by Ted de Groot.
As for her favorite tulip, Laura Berg said it is “Spryng,” a red one.
“I love it, love, love it,” she said. “This is fun.”
The festival is more than tulips, with 10 vendors, food, a gift shop and entertainment for kids and adults.
“The entertainment is good,” said Eric Berg. “That band (the Catillacs — yep it is spelled that way) is wonderful.”
Lan Jiang and Chang Yuan of Camas were admiring the fields. They brought along their 7-month-old daughter, Yilian Yuan, and Chang’s mother, Xiean Ren from China.
“I like the white ones,” Jiang said. “Actually, I like the layout they have,” she said scanning the show field.
Yuan said his favorite is “Pinocchio,” an orangy-pink and white-striped beauty.
Dobbe noted that visitors can buy cut flowers, bulbs and flowers in pots. He said there is more flora to see than tulips — including peonies, hyacinth, lilies and daffodils — at the farm.
Dobbe came from The Netherlands in 1980, and his flower empire includes 160 different types of tulips on 175 acres in Woodland. He also has 75 acres in Arroyo Grande, Calif., with 2 million square feet of flowers under cover. He employs 100 people full time and another 100 during the busy season.
This is his 31st year in the business, and, he says, “I’ve worked very hard.”
At 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dobbe will name a new tulip developed in The Netherlands.
“It’s like a baptizing,” daughter Nicolette Wakefield said.
The new tulip is red and a white top. Its name? “Holland America.”
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