Tulips for Orange City Tulip festival blooming right on schedule
ORANGE CITY, IA (KCAU) — Orange City Tulip Festival organizers have been preparing for the event months ago, but the festival's namesake always requires the most work.
And with the flowers in full bloom, it takes a year round work to make sure that the tulips are ready to go for the three-day festival.
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'A lot of care and thought goes into those tulips. And then really, I mean, a lot of the work is on the front end' said Orange City Parks and Recreation Supervisor Noah Minnick.
The first step to get these tulips ready for the festival begins in July with the order process.
'We placed the order with Tulip Tom Ball Company out of Orange City, Iowa. And they get their tulips from the Netherlands, so they place the order for the city,' said Minnick. 'And then we place around 30,000 bulbs that get ordered and shipped from the Netherlands to Orange City.'
After the tulips arrive in the fall, volunteers put the bulbs in the ground following specific instructions.
'The key is to plant them about six to eight inches deep, which is the hard part because we have to till up the soil and then we put the the tulips in,' said Nora Mulder, the plant coordinator for the festival. 'We just kind of spread them out. We like a random look and then the bulb really has all the energy it needs to bloom in the spring.'
And for the flowers to bloom for the festival, it's all about timing to ensure the tulips bloom on time.
'We always try to plant the latest ones, a single late so that we have hopes of them blooming at the Tulip Festival.' said Mulder. 'And usually we hit it pretty good, so we're pleased with that.'
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Minnick said tulips tend to be low maintenance and grow on their own. The recent cooler weather conditions have helped the tulips bloom right on schedule.
'We're fortunate to have cooler weather in the spring, and that keeps the bulbs down. Sometimes you get warmer weather, so then the bulbs bloom earlier And it's really just up to what nature gives us for that spring. And, you know, we hope other people come and enjoy the hard work,' said Minnick,
The Orange City Tulip Festival will kick off on Thursday, May 15 and will end on May 17 on Saturday.
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