FUN FACTS ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

FUN FACTS ABOUT
THE FESTIVAL
• The Tesselaar Tulip Festival is in its 63rd year making it
one of Australia’s longest running festivals. A proud family
tradition, the Tesselaar family has been opening its farm to
the public since 1954.
• In 2016 there will be over 800,000 tulips including
120 different tulip varieties on show.
• The Festival is set across 25 acres of gardens where
visitors are encouraged to roam free, enjoying the
wide open spaces.
• Over 1 million spring flowering bulbs will be on display
including tulips, daffodils, ranunculus and anemones.
• The garden display is planned over a year in advance, so
before this year’s show has even begun, we will already be
planning for 2017.
• We have planted hundreds of blossom trees to add to our
floral show including cherries, apples, pears, dogwoods,
forest pansies and magnolias.
• Tesselaar Tulip Festival is home to the largest clog in the
Southern Hemisphere, coming in at almost four metres
long. It was carved by renowned chainsaw artist Robbie Bast.
• During the Festival, our staff wears costumes from the Dutch
fishing village Volendam, known as traditional Sunday dress.
This includes traditional Dutch farming shoes – clogs. Clogs
have been worn in the Netherland for hundreds of years
(though they don’t often get around in them today). While
wooden shoes might seem cumbersome, they are actually
comfortable and light, being made out of poplar or willow.
Clogs are waterproof and warm – perfect for a tulip farm!
FUN FACTS ABOUT
THE TULIPS
• Our tulips are planted in autumn; they are lovingly tended
to throughout winter and emerge in spring. Tesselaar plants
a range of varieties and specially treat the bulbs to enable
them to flower for the four weeks of the Festival. When the
Tesselaar Tulip Festival concludes the flowers are removed
and the leaves are allowed to fade naturally. Once the
foliage has yellowed the bulbs are lifted, graded and then
placed in temperature controlled storage for replanting the
following autumn.
• Tesselaar plant the tulips on a 2 year rotation. The grass you
walk on this year was a tulip bed last year. This crop rotation
encourages happy, healthy blooms.
• 750,000 bulbs are planted via machinery with 80,000
planted by hand.
• To develop a tulip variety it takes over seven years from
seed to market.
For more information about the 2016 Tesselaar Tulip Festival visit
www.tulipfestival.com.au