Sunday, September 27, 2009

#846 ... Tulip Day


Spring Festival gets under way at the Botanic Garden next weekend with the ever popular Tulip Sunday – a great opportunity to enjoy one of the country’s biggest and best tulip displays as well as music, Dutch dancing and food.

Tulip Sunday is great way to celebrate spring and the first day of daylight saving – something people will need to bear in mind if they are planning to come along. This year's festival also marks the 60th anniversary of the first mass planting of spring bulbs at the Botanic Garden.

"The government of the Netherlands gave the city nearly 20,000 bulbs in 1948 in gratitude for New Zealanders' hospitality to Dutch refugees after World War Two," Cr Wade-Brown says. "Our tulip bulbs now come from Southland but Wellington's Dutch community still provides the traditional food, music and dancing that helps make Tulip Sunday so special. Events like this are great way to experience and celebrate the city's ethnic diversity."

1 comment:

Ineke said...

Wow, i knew we had something to do with this post :)
weird to see you are entering spring and for us its autumn allright. We are about to plant the bulbs so we can enjoy them in a couple of months.