APRIL 2020
I love taking pictures of and with flowers! If you plan everything optimally, you can enjoy flowers almost all year long. I was supposed to be in Paris for wisteria and cherry blossom season, but unfortunately we are all staying in the proximity of our homes. Luckily, the Netherlands is a true flower country and I was able to spot lots of flowers in my neighborhood this year. This blogpost includes some of my favorite flower experiences of the past as well as some recent flower pictures taken in my neighborhood.
MAGNOLIAS
Magnolias are one of my favorite flowers, in Europe they usually bloom from the end of February – early April, depending on the severity of the winter. I particularly love the magnolia type with super big pink flowers. London is one of the best locations, for magnolias with beautiful houses as a backdrop, but over the years I have seen amazing magnolia trees in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
CHERRY BLOSSOM
It is my dream to one day visit Japan or South Korea during cherry blossom season, these countries really know how to appreciate cherry blossoms! In Amsterdam you can find a Japanese cherry blossom park in the Amsterdamse Bos, which I try to visit every year. This year I visited just in town, before you were advised not to travel anymore!
DAFFODILS
In the beginning of April I had a daffodil photo shoot planned at Fam Flower Farm, but unfortunately this had to be canceled because of COVID-19. Luckily, the Netherlands plant daffodils everywhere, so I took some improvised pictures near my house!
TULIPS
One great luxury of living in the Netherlands is that you can visit tulip fields around April/May. You can visit tulip fields in several locations, but I visited Lisse a few times now. I heard that the tulip fields in Goeree-Overflakkee are less crowded, so I added those to my bucket list for next year. Not all farmers are too happy with tourists visiting the fields, so I always ask for permission before I enter a field and make sure not to stand on the flowers. For next year, I absolutely recommend hiring a bicycle in Lisse, cycling around the tulip fields, getting the ultimate Dutch experience.
LAVENDER
The Provence is known for its lavender fields, but I was never able to visit the Provence in the exact right season. So I felt extremely happy when I discovered you could also visit lavender fields in Kent, England. Which was exactly the location where I would be in July 2019, in peak season for lavender! I couldn’t sleep when I booked this tour, because I was just too excited, I have such a funny brain 😉 My mother and I booked a tour with the Hop Shop and loved learning about the lavender production and taking pictures in the fields.
SUNFLOWERS
I still hope to visit the sunflower fields in France this year, Hielke and I planned on visiting France with a van this year, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. I did once visit some sort of sunflower field, in the South of Germany, when we were about to visit Burg Eltz in August. My mother spotted this field from the car, which was a very welcome surprise!
BOUGAINVILLEA
Unfortunately bougainvillea does not like our Dutch climate, as it usually doesn’t survive the winter freeze. I love visiting the South of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece (amongst others) from May-September as you will usually find lots of bougainvilleas in bloom! I found Mykonos to be the ultimate bougainvillea destination, as the contrast of the white streets with the colorful flowers is just incredibly romantic, but I found Seville a pretty good runner up!
POPPIES
While I visited the Cotswolds in the summer of 2019, my London friends told me we could visit poppy fields.. something you don’t have to tell me twice. We asked around where we could find the poppy fields and pretty much spent a day driving trying to find them. In the end the fields turned out to be just outside of Stow-on-the-wold, where we were staying the night. It was pouring rain when we found the fields and my mother was much better dressed for the occasion and we had to climb over a fence, but we did it!!
LUPINS
I always try to visit flower fields, if possible. During our sabbatical we had the opportunity to visit lupin fields. Spring was starting in the Southern Hemisphere and we spotted lupin fields in Bariloche and near Puerto Natales. In Bariloche we had to do a lot of driving around to find them and we had to escape some dogs to ask permission to shoot in the fields, while it was incredibly easy to do a shoot in Puerto Natales. These adventures searching for flower fields always take you to the strangest locations, so we will continue looking for flower fields all over the world.
HEATHER FLOWERS
At the end of summer you can spot heather flowers in the Netherlands. Purple wildflowers which create gigantic fields. Hopefully this year we will be able to go to the Veluwe in summertime, where the landscapes are more spectacular than flat Eindhoven 😉
