I guess Holland doesn’t need more presentation than this: canals, boats, bicycles – and flowers! Not only tulips, but this year we decided to visit the Dahlia Festival instead. And we were not disappointed!
The gallery features some glorious dahlias from Keukenhof Castle. We arrived just after a shower and could savour all the colours and shapes – and some raindrops too.
We also visited a couple of Dahlia farms with a multitude of different sorts. Pompon Dahlias are still popular and I understand why. They don’t look real! I thought I would buy some bulbs and give away to Dahlia lovers back home – unfortunately they are not for sale in September – but in early Spring…
Well, I loved photographing them, and a couple of days later we saw the Dahlia Parade too, with flower floats you could only dream of…
Leya 
I’m lucky! I live 15 km from Kasteel Keukenhof! Beautiful pics!
Wow…
I was delighted to see you’re still blogging, Leya! I’ve been away from WordPress for far too long, so it was lovely to come back and find your posts still here. Looking forward to catching up on what I’ve missed!
Welcome back!
Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing these beautiful images with their multitude of colourful blooms.
I must admit I was positively surprised at their beauty – and their variety!
Interesting! I’m not a fan of dahlias, but I must say they look very colouful en masse!
They do!
Love these!
Beautifully presented!
I am glad you liked them – I was happy to see they have more fantastic plants than tulips!
Welcome, AC.
Interesting to see these plants.
There used to be a dahlia farm near me, but sadly I never managed to visit it. I can’t grow the big dahlias, too many S&S and earwigs, but I do like to photograph them. As it seems you do too!
Oh, I really do like them – but don’t grow them either. For me, because of the digging out and replanting the bulbs every year…
Dear Ann-Christine
Although we lived for a while in the Netherlands we didn’t know about the dahlias at Keukenhof. Of course, we visited the tulips many times but never the dahlias.
We like your second picture of the ‘Grachten’. It’s so typical and reminds us of how we lived and liked it there.
Thanks and cheers
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you – I understand you liked it there!
You’ve done your best to make me love dahlias, but as you say – they don’t look real! But your header photo is wonderful.
Thank you, Margaret! I do love seeing them, but don’t have them in my garden. Too much trouble digging up the bulbs every year and then planting them again in Spring. But my neighbours have some that I enjoy!
Thanks for taking me back to Spring! I particularly love that huge pink bloom, sparkling with raindrops.
Ah, the one with the bee flying in? Loved it too. We were there this October for the Dahlias!
Lovely! I didn’t know they had a Dahlia festival too 😀.
Neither did I – until this Spring. They told us to visit the Dahlia festival in Autumn!
What a fiesta for the eyes, such a colorful beauties. I can only imagine how many photos you took 😀
You know me…😁
fabulous
superb
nice
beautifull
Just beautiful Ann-Christine!
Thank you, Anne, thought we needed some of this right now…
Yes, we did!
So true Holland is quite beautiful but dahlias make everything more so! Fabulous photos, Anne-Christine!
Thank you, Terri. Thought we all needed some today!
They are so beautiful.
Thank you, they are indeed!
What a wonderful post!
Glad to send something beautiful!
That is fabulous. So many beautiful flowers. The opening photo with the reflections is wonderful as well
Thank you. I was thrilled to get so many insects too!
That was one thing I noticed in Europe was a lack of insects. But then again my place is full is them
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A beautiful sampling of Holland’s treasures.
They do have some, yes!
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