Garden fair opens March 20

***image1***The eighth season of the Kaiserslautern Garden Fair opens Thursday (March 20) with the “Symphony of Tulips.” Like last year, 1 million of tulips, hyacinths and daffodils will turn the garden area in an ocean of blossoms for four to six weeks.

The tulip beds are put in the form of notes and in each note a different kind of tulip is blooming. There is a total of 53 notes, whose heads have a diameter of four meters and the stems are nine meters. The notes sit on flowerbeds of muscari, little blue grape hyacinths, which are built like a line of the staff.

The 15 different kinds of hyacinths are expected to be in full blossom from the end of March until the middle of April.

***image2***“In Jean-Schoen-Park our gardeners will create a tulip waterfall,” said the garden fair’s spokesperson, Sandra Laux. “The tulips will be planted in a way and on different levels so it looks like a waterfall.”

Along the dinosaur path, visitors can admire a special water lily tulip called “tulipa kaufmanniana,” which is a colorful early bloomer.

Around Barbarossawoog pond, gardeners planted only tulips carrying a name that have to do with music such as “Abba,” “Lambada” or “Chopin.” These flowerbeds were created in a three-dimensional visual appearance. 

The new tulip called “Kaiserslautern” will bloom in red. It received its name last year form the local tulip princess and can be found in a pyramid bed in front of the flower hall.

“Throughout the season, our tulip princess, Jennifer I, will represent and accompany the Symphony of Tulips,” said Mrs. Laux. “On opening day she will greet all visitors. She can answer questions about tulips, also in English.”

The former chief planner of the Keukenhof in the Netherlands helped to create the “Symphony of Tulips.” Organizers expect about 100,000 visitors during the time when the tulips are blooming.

This year’s flower shows in the flower hall run under the motto “Kaiserslautern (plus) …”

***image3***Music, School, Kammgarn and Pfaff, Techniques, Craftsmanship, Water, and Sports are the terms added.

Other highlights include the family day and spring fest sponsored by the German Polizei April 20, a Dutch weekend May 3 and 4, a theater day by the Pfalztheater May 12, a butchers’ market June 21 and 22, a circus for everybody Sept. 21, and the big autumn fest Sept. 28.

There will be several concerts and theater performances for children.
Like in recent years, worship services will be held 11 a.m. Sundays in the willow church on top of Kaiserberg hill.

The garden fair is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. It will open at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and during German school breaks.

“We were able to keep the same entrance prices like last year,” said Mrs. Laux.
Season tickets cost €40 for adults and €20 for children. The daily tickets are €6 for adults €3 for children.

For more information, visit www.gardenschau-kl.de.