My parents visited us in the fall and bought their tickets well in advance to come back in the spring so they could experience the Skagit Tulip Festival. We just missed it when we moved out here last year so I was excited to experience it too.

Unfortunately our plans were somewhat thwarted by Mother Nature. Thanks to an incredibly and unusually warm spring, the tulips came early and were being topped weeks before schedule.

While we thought my parents were going to be here in the heart of tulip season, the festival maps showed the fields of flowers disappearing day by day leading up to their arrival.

I was so disappointed. The pictures looked incredible, and I didn’t want them to miss it! We had other plans for their visit, but everything really revolved around the festival.

One of my work colleagues mentioned that a couple of the display gardens would likely still be beautiful when my parents arrived. Although we would miss the dramatic fields of flowers, we would likely still get to see tons of varietals in the gardens.

It felt like a consolation prize, but it was our only option. We took advantage of it and left bright and early Saturday morning for RoozenGaarde.

It ended up being a pretty incredible experience!

We got in line to enter the gardens and definitely made the right decision going early. By the time we left there were thousands of people parking and waiting to enter, and it was getting really crowded. We had the luxery of wandering the beds at our own pace and taking a few pictures of the flowers without tons of people in the background.

The garden was beautiful, and while a few of the varietals had been topped in the beds, we still got to see an incredible number in bloom. Apparently they plant the beds differently every year, and with so many types and colors and sizes available.

I can see the art in designing the beds year after year and people returning to see the new arrangements.

In addition to the gardens we walked out into the fields to see a few of the remaining rows.

I can imagine how impressive it must look with all the fields in bloom and would love to go back next year to see it in all of its glory.

The mountains surrounding the fields make a gorgeous backdrop–it’s truly breathtaking.

Unfortunately many people did not follow the signs requesting you remain on the paths and not enter the fields. I know everyone wanted the shot out in the flowers, but it damages the flowers and also somewhat ruins the effect of seeing all the uninterrupted color stretching all across the field. A number of workers kept weaving back and forth, shooing people out of the rows.

The dark colors really popped and I loved the contrast between some of the rows. It was really beautiful.

As we learned, it can be a little difficult to time things just right, but if you’re in the Pacific Northwest during tulip season, you don’t want to miss it!