2012 Tulip Season in the Skagit Valley

Roozengaarde Gardens

Tulip season has come and gone in the Pacific Northwest.  There was no better place to spend it than the Skagit Valley throughout the month of April.

I enjoyed three separate visits to the area.  My first visit was a solo trip to photograph the daffodils - a beautiful precursor to the tulips, which usually peak in late March.
Subsequent photography trips were made with photographer friends Brad Wetli and Kevin Ebi.  Kevin and I were fortunate enough to hit Roozengaarde Gardens at their prime.

Rows of tulips at Roozengaarde Gardens

Of course, we weren't alone when visiting Roozengaarde Gardens.  Not even close.  This place packs them in fast, especially on weekends.  I highly recommend arriving early.

The fields were a little disappointing this year.  The few we could find were still a week away - I suspect the final days of April.  This is extremely late for them.  The exception was the field directly behind (east) of Roozengaarde Gardens, which was spectacular.  Access was the issue, however.  If you wished to photograph it during prime light, I'm not sure access was legally available (though the fact they demanded to see your ticket stub upon re-admittance to the gardens tells me it was possible).

All the fields I have enjoyed photographing over the years were not planted this year.  They remained barren.  This includes my absolute favorite, the field that surrounds the parking lot across the street from Roozengaarde Gardens.  Why do I like this particular field so much?  Because it has a gentle up slope to it to better catch the rows of different color tulips, and offers the snow-clad Olympic Mountains as a backdrop on sunny days.


Tulips at Roozengaarde Gardens in Skagit Valley.

Hopefully the planting rotation rewards photographers next year.  We can hope!

I will be adding tulip images to my web site at http://www.mountainscenes.com/ soon.  In the meantime, feel free to visit for any of my other photography from around the Western U.S.

Thanks for visiting.

It's Tulip Time in the Skagit Valley!

Tulips at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, Washington.

That's right, it is that time of year again!  The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is in full swing and the tulips are strutting their colors!  Now is the time to get up and pay them a visit!

A drive around in search of colorful fields will yield few results, despite what the Bloom Map might say.  However, the field behind Roozengaarde is absolutely spectacular!   It is also huge, offering many varieties of tulips - the largest collection I recall seeing in any one of their fields in the past.

Of course, the Roozengaarde Display Garden is the highlight of any visit, and is easily worth the $5 admission fee.  If visiting on a weekend, arrive early!

A sea of daffodils in the Skagit Valley.

If daffodils are your thing, it's not too late to catch them either!  There is a prime field on Beaver Marsh Road, just south of Roozengarde.  There are also many varieties still on display within the Gardens themselves.

Photographers - bring all your lenses!  There is so much opportunity here that you will tire of shooting long before you are even close to "finishing".  One can spend days here and still not come away feeling complete.  Wide-angle lenses are great for catching the fields.  Mid-range lenses work well for capturing the artistic arrangements in the display garden.  Telephoto lenses are excellent for getting up close and personal.  You can use them all here!

Definitely waterproof your gear and yourself.  I would recommend rubber boots if planning to visit any of the fields, even on a nice day.  The fields can take days to completely dry out after a period of showers.

I hope to have tulip and daffodil images from this year and years past on my web site soon. 

Daffodils in the Skagit Valley



Rows of daffodils in the Skagit Valley.

 Each spring hundreds of thousands of people descend upon the Skagit Valley to enjoy the millions of tulips in bloom.   The rows upon rows of magnificent flowers are breathtaking.  I encourage all to experience it.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival officially runs from April 1 - 30th.  The tulip show, in my experience, typically hits peak about the second week of April.  However, the bloom dates are heavily dependent on weather and can vary greatly from year to year.

Fortunately, we have a tool available to us to take the guessing game out planning our visit.  Roozengaarde, one of the premier tulip growers in North America, publishes a bloom map with daily updates!

And now, to share another secret with you.  Want to avoid the crowds?  Go now!  Daffodils are at peak bloom right now and the fields are amazing!  There is a good chance you will find yourself all alone as you explore them.  It will be a much different experience in a week or two when the tulips hit peak.

Enjoy, and feel free to share your experience!

Nearly Tulip Time!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

April is sneaking up on us.  And in the Pacific Northwest, that means tulip time!  The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will be starting up soon, and it will be time to drive to Mount Vernon and visit such places as RoozenGaarde, Tulip Town, and more!

Of course, it's not too early to visit now for the daffodils!  Fields of different varieties of flowers await you, less the crowds.

The Tulip Festival lasts April 1st - 30th.  However, the best time to visit is typically about the first couple of weeks, depending on the year.  The beauty is that you can monitor their web site and know exactly when the flowers hit their peak!

My suggestion is to arrive early to avoid the crowds and minimize people in your compositions (though they can be a desirable element as well) and capitalize on early light.  If its a clear morning, the backdrop of the snow-clad Olympic Mountains can be breathtaking.

Evening photography can also be very nice, with the chance to catch pink skies to the west at sunset.

Wear rubber boots for the muddy fields.  All lenses work here and I encourage you play around with different compositions, angles and vantages.  An interesting idea is to bring a small step ladder for an even higher perspective of the fields.  I have not done this yet, but I've seen the results and they are pretty cool!

The above image was taken several years ago from the fields at RoozenGaarde under overcast skies.  It was recently licensed to a prominent magazine with distribution of 2 million, which appeared on store shelves last week.

I hope you find the time to visit the Tulip Festival in the coming weeks.