A 'thank you' gift, made 60 years ago, from the Netherlands to Ottawa, Canada, of 100,000 tulip bulbs, was used to start the Canadian Tulip Festival. The festival has since grown into a kaleidoscope of color, with more than three million tulips decorating Canada's Capital each spring.
Reckoned to be the largest Tulip Festival in the world, all events are free and it is described as the 'festival without fences'. Canadian Tulip Festival May 2 to 19, 2008.
The most popular tourism gardens in The Netherlands is Keukenhof at Lisse, near Amsterdam and it boasts one of the world's greatest displays of tulips and spring flowers. It was established nearly 60 years ago and each spring there is a flower festival when more than 7 million bulbs burst into flower throughout the 70 acre garden.
For the 2007 season, the Keukenhof has chosen the theme 'Linnaeus: King of Flowers Turns 300', to commemorate the birth of Swedish physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus 300 years ago. Linnaeus had tremendous impact on the bulb world and tulips are still named according to the classification that Linnaeus developed in the 18th century.
The Swedish theme will be incorporated in the park in a wide variety of ways, including a giant portrait (16 x 11 metres) of Pippi Longstocking, the young heroine of Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's beloved series, made out of bulbs designed to bloom in the spring.
This year's International Keukenhof Flower Exhibition will be open from 22 March until 20 May, 2007.
For the 2007 season, the Keukenhof has chosen the theme 'Linnaeus: King of Flowers Turns 300', to commemorate the birth of Swedish physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus 300 years ago. Linnaeus had tremendous impact on the bulb world and tulips are still named according to the classification that Linnaeus developed in the 18th century. 
