Last autumn, H.E. Ms Joanna Roper, British ambassador to the Netherlands, Keukenhof’s director Sandra Bechtholt and gardener Patrick van Dijk planted Tulipa King Charles III. This Spring the regal golden bloom will reach its glorious peak.
The wonderful King Charles lll tulip will not only flower in Keukenhof – its blossoms can be seen in Britain too. Through the Dutch Embassy in London, the special tulip bulbs were forwarded to Herfordshire. Here the King Charles III bulbs have been planted in the garden of Longmeadow, gardens of Monty Don and BBC Gardener’s World.
Ambassador Roper said: ‘Tulips are perhaps the most famous symbol of the Netherlands and to name this tulip after His Majesty King Charles III is a wonderful way to emphasize the close ties between the UK and the Netherlands. I look forward to seeing this tulip in bloom, both in my own garden and at the world-famous Keukenhof.’
Hybris, the flower bulb’s breeder, was extremely honoured to receive permission to name a mutant of Tulipa Rejoyce after the new British monarch. In 1952, another royal tulip, Queen Elizabeth II, was registered with the Dutch General Bulb Growers’ Association (KAVB), by P. Nijssen and Sons. One of the Nijssen sons, P.J. Nijssen, went on to become one of the founders of Hybris B.V. in 1979.
The King Charles III tulip is a Rejoyce mutant, which is, in turn, a mutant of an original cultivar, Lydia. The King Charles III has the same bulb and plant structure as the popular garden and tub varieties Lydia and Rejoyce but is a different colour. The export market launch of the King Charles III tulip, which is suitable for planting both directly in garden soil and in balcony boxes and planters, is expected to take place between mid-2027 and 2028.
Flower Exhibition Keukenhof opens on 21 March 2024. This year, it will be 75 years since the first of these flower exhibitions opened to the public.
The exhibition will last for almost eight weeks, during which 1.4 million people from all over the world will flock to this magical park, because there is no better place to see millions of tulips, daffodils and other flowering bulbs in bloom than Keukenhof.
