Not too late to visit Skagit Valley tulips

Cold weather delayed blooms; 41st year of festival

By Elisa Claassen For the

Tribune

MOUNT VERNON — is spring’s cold weather has been great for growing beautiful, healthy tulips, in Skagit Valley.

According to Skagit Valley Tulip Festival organizer’s website, the festival is the largest tulip festival in the United States, as measured by acreage of tulips, number of farms, and days of blooms.

Key places to visit include RoozenGaarde, Tulip Town, Garden Rosalyn, and Tulip Valley Farms. RoozenGaarde, with its evergrowing display garden at 15867 Beaver Marsh Road may be the best known.

See tulips.com for details of purchasing bulbs, seeing which elds are in bloom, ordering owers to be shipped. Parking is free but there is a fee of $15 to enjoy the gardens. Fiveacre Tulip Town at 15002 Bradshaw Road is not far away and has 55 varieties of tulips. More information at tuliptown.com. e farms encourage ticket purchases ahead of time. Usually tra c, which can be heavy on weekends, is more manageable during the week.

Garden Rosalyn, 16648 Jungquist Road, also has dahlias after the tulip blooms between May and early fall. More information at gardenrosalyn.com.

Others choose to view the elds – strips of yellows, reds, pinks and more –from above via plane trips.

Atomic Helicopters o ers tours, weather dependent, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons lasting around eight to 10 minutes at a cost of $90 plus per person leaving from Gordon Skagit Farms.

More details at atomichelicopters.com. e Balloon Depot had o ered hot air balloon ights above the elds but that is on hold for 2023, according to its website. e origin of the color- ful elds of owers is from families of Dutch immigrants who established the farms in the past few – or more – decades. Due to the late blooms, the fourth farm, Tulip Valley Farms, 15245 Bradshaw Road, which introduced nine-acre Tulip Valley Gardens this year, will be open until at least Mother’s Day, May 14, per its Public Relations team, Nicole Hong of Revolution PR. e two acres of tulips on site give a “taste of tulips,” as well as space for events and programs, she said.

Tulip Valley Farms CEO Andrew Miller said it’s too early to give a head count as the farms have heard this weekend ending the month of April will have the best weather in weeks, “ e best is yet to come.” His farm’s most popular experiences have been Tea Time in the Tulips, Cow Cuddling, U-Pick and Night Bloom. ese activities, and others, will remain through the end of April on designated days. One special event this weekend is a photo class with worldrenowned photographer Andy Porter. Another is “Farm Bloom: Color and Conversations” at 5-8 p.m. on Saturday, April 29.

Co-sponsored by Skagit County Farm Bureau and

“we have invited all Washington State legislators, farm bureau members, tribal leaders, local farmers, and all interested parties to get together to discuss important issues involving our shared natural resources.” e event includes a Tulalip-caught and prepared salmon dinner, live music, and discussion.

“ ere are still hundreds of thousands of tulips yet to bloom and to u-pick,” Miller said. More details at tulipvalley.com.

While the festival’s street fair was along the Mount Vernon downtown streets last weekend, visitors can also stop by local plant nurseries, shop and dine along scenic LaConner, or walk along the banks of the Skagit River in Mount Vernon.

For anyone not wishing to pay the admittance fee for the gardens, following the bloom maps shows routes to blooms in the elds viewed by before they are cut. e majority of the elds are between Mount Vernon to the east, Highway 20 to the north, Conway to the south, and La Conner to the west.

For anyone who have not attended before, walking shoes appropriate for muddy elds are in order.