I know I said Thursday would be my last tulip photos for a while but since Sally’s mobile photography challenge is on vacation until May 5th I thought I’d share one more post from the Skagit Valley. The annual Tulip Festival is a favorite with photographers as well as fun day trip for the family but it’s important to remember that along with the beautiful display gardens and $5 off-road parking these beautiful fields belong to working farms and tulips are big business.
While paying visitors slowly walk around the perimeter of these large bulb fields the hired pickers work long shifts carefully selecting almost opened stems to bundle for sale in the gift shops and flower stands through the valley. Greenhouse grown tulips and daffodils are available year round but field grown flowers are prized for their longer length and deeper colors and are only available for a few weeks each year. This group of pickers quietly worked through their Sunday morning shift morning filling wood crates with perfect stems and though I noticed most people tried to avoid including them in their photos I thought the crews hard work should be noted as part of the tulip story.
That’s one place I still have yet to see.
Maybe you can come south next year? 🙂
What? It’s over?
There are a few fields left but they are going fast! The festival runs the whole month of April but the peak times depend on the weather. Tulips.com should have a good map of the fields still in bloom.
Thank you.
Gorgeous shots, Lisa!
Thank you! It is hard to take a bad photo here. 🙂
I’ll take a crate, please! 🙂
I really wanted one too. 🙂
The more you post this place the more I am needing to go visit darn it lol 🙂
I hope you get a chance to see the area!
Crossing fingers! 😀
Shoulda gone! Beautiful! More please.
I’ll be back up that way later this week and if there are any flowers left you can bet I’ll stop for a few pictures. 🙂
They must work so hard to create such beauty. I bet it was pure eye-candy to see.
Eye candy is a great description, Carrie. 🙂
They have a “tulip field” they say in Holland, MI but the field is so tiny. Except for that the Tulip Festival there is a must see and enjoy. I would love to see this – so beautiful!
I’ve heard great things about the festival in Holland, MI! I’m sure you would have a great time walking through the fields and display gardens. 🙂
That is an incredible tulip fields! Thank you for taking us there, Lisa!
You’re welcome Amy, thanks for joining us!
The immensity of the fields is breath taking, as are the colors!
You’re right Angeline, it’s amazing to have flowers fill your entire field of vision!
Beautiful and you can post as many tulips photos as you want. I never get tired of their beauty.
Thanks Ruth. 🙂
glad you shared another tulip post – especially because they are all so rich! In this post, I really like the ones lying down – ready for transport! 🙂
Thanks, Yvette I like the bundled ones too!
I’m not tiring of these tulip photos one bit. They’re so bright and cheery, every stalk of them a star in their own right. Very nice of you to acknowledge the pickers. I hope a lot of them like their job 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Mabel! I hope they like their jobs too – you can’t beat the view. 🙂
Wow, what incredibly vibrant shots….spring bursting out in vivid straight lines….wonderful 🙂
Thanks so much Seonaid!
A color feast for the eyes. Very nice !!! XD
I’m glad you like them!
Besides the lovely photos I am delighted to see how the tulips are packed.
Thanks Sue! I wanted to show a view of the fields that is new to people who might only get to see them through photos and this looked like a good place to start. 🙂 Not as funny as your Mojave Desert/Turtle dodging adventure though. 😉
Glad you got a chuckle from the post. That’s the great thing about blogs we can get such a variety. Thank you.
I can NEVER get enough of the Skagit Valley tulips! You never appreciate what you have until you move away. ….sigh.
I’ll post another one soon, just for you. 🙂
Thanks Lisa 🙂
So beautiful. It’s a shame to pick them. 🙂
I think so too and wonder if it’s hard for the workers to pick them or if it’s just another job…
I suppose they have to do what they have to do, and become inured to it.