葡萄风信子和郁金香, 库肯霍夫花园, 利塞, 荷兰 Grape hyacinths and tulips, Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands (© Martin Ruegner/Getty Images)

葡萄风信子和郁金香, 库肯霍夫花园, 利塞, 荷兰 Grape hyacinths and tulips, Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands (© Martin Ruegner/Getty Images)

郁金香是这里的主角 Tulips run the show

库肯霍夫花园, 利塞, 荷兰

想象一下，一朵花引发了一场金融狂潮。听起来不太可能，对吧？然而，在17世纪30年代，郁金香在荷兰却做到了这一点。在郁金香狂热时期，稀有的郁金香球茎成了奢侈品，交易价格惊人——有些球茎的价值甚至堪比一栋房子。为什么如此珍贵？因为颜色和条纹图案独特的郁金香稀少且难以预测，收藏家们想要找到他们所能找到的最稀有的品种。

郁金香泡沫最终破灭，但荷兰人对郁金香的热爱却从未消退。几个世纪后，这种与郁金香的深厚情缘又迎来了新的篇章：位于利瑟附近的库肯霍夫花园，也就是今天照片中的这片花园。这座花园于1950年开放，最初是一个春季展览会，荷兰球茎种植者在此向买家和游客展示他们最新的品种。

每年秋季，约有40位园丁会种植超过700万株球茎植物，层层叠叠，营造出色彩缤纷的景象，一直延续到来年春天。其中，约800种郁金香是主角，而葡萄风信子和水仙花则点缀着蓝色和黄色，带来一抹亮丽的色彩。美中不足的是，这座花园每年只对公众开放几周。

Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands

Imagine a flower sparking a financial frenzy. Sounds unlikely, right? Yet in the 1630s, tulips did exactly that in the Netherlands. During tulip mania, rare bulbs became luxury items traded for astonishing sums—some valued at prices comparable to a house. Why so valuable? Unusual colors and striped patterns were scarce and unpredictable, and collectors wanted the rarest varieties they could find.

The bubble eventually burst, but the country's fascination with tulips never faded. Centuries later, that long relationship with the flower found a new stage: Keukenhof Gardens near Lisse, seen in today's image. Opened in 1950, the park began as a spring exhibition where Dutch bulb growers presented their newest varieties to buyers and visitors.

Each autumn, about 40 gardeners plant over seven million bulbs in layered designs so colors appear in waves through spring. Around 800 varieties of tulips lead the show, while grape hyacinths and daffodils add bursts of blue and yellow. The catch? The garden opens to the public for only a few weeks each year.