Cherry blossoms, tulips and lilacs: Flower festival time
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Tourists visit Keukenhof spring garden in Lisse, some 20 kilometers from Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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People walk along the Tidal Basin, visiting the cherry blossoms in Washington.
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Members of the traditional Japanese ensemble Taiko Masala, perform during a preview of the Sakura Matsuri festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York.
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The Texas flag flies near a field of Bluebonnets near Navasota, Texas.
It’s time for cherry blossom festivals, tulip viewing and lilac season. Here are some of the places that celebrate spring flowers with festivals and other events.
Tulip time
You could go to the Netherlands to see the Keukenhof gardens in Lisse, which are planted with 7 million flowering bulbs — tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and more — blooming through May 13.
Or you could visit Holland, Mich., which hosts a Tulip Time Festival May 5-13. The city planted 100,000 tulips back in 1929, and the annual celebration of the tulip now includes entertainment, costumes, parades and activities.
Pella, Iowa, has also been hosting a Tulip Time celebration for decades. Pella’s event is May 3-5, and includes parades, Dutch costumes and performances, a craft and vendor fair, quilt and flower shows in addition to the tulip gardens.
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, based in Mount Vernon in the state of Washington, runs through April 30.
Cherry blossoms
In Washington, D.C., the peak of the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin was in early April, but some trees are still in bloom. The National Cherry Blossom Festival, which ran through last week, marked the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from a Tokyo mayor to the U.S. capital city.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City also celebrates the blooming of cherry trees that were a gift from the Japanese government. A two-day festival called Sakura Matsuri is April 28-29 with some 60 events, including performances by taiko drummers. The garden features a Japanese pond and garden as well as an esplanade lined with some of its 200 cherry trees.
Flower fests elsewhere
In Rochester, N.Y., the annual Lilac Festival is May 11-20. Organizers say the event draws more than 500,000 people to see not just the largest lilac collection in the U.S., but also music and comedy shows, art exhibits, a race and more. Another lilac festival is held on Mackinac Island in Michigan, June 8-17.
Bluebonnet season brings out locals and visitors alike in Texas Hill Country. Typically they bloom the last week of March through April, though as with all flowers, it can be hard to predict.
Walt Disney World’s Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival runs through May 28 with display gardens, entertainment and more at the theme park just outside Orlando, Fla.
