KERNERSVILLE -- Thousands of tulips have blossomed once again at the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden. This year's celebration of tulips display features varieties new to the garden.
"Tulips come in many different varieties," said Adrienne Roethling, garden curator. "[There are] tall, short, big, round, slender and fat ones."
They stand in the thousands and for nine years, the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden has planted tulip bulbs in their Pattern Garden.
But this year, the garden will celebrate its fifth anniversary of being open to the public during the Celebration of the Tulips. To prepare for the event, volunteers planted the bulbs in the ground late last year.
“Starting around Christmas, we get them into the ground. There's about 20 different beds," said Roethling. "We try to color-coordinate them. We're on our hands and knees for about a week."
Roething says despite a couple rounds of hot weather, the tulips are doing well. The first round sprouted up about three weeks ago.
“We've had several scares with heat and dryness. We love spring rains, but we need a little more," said Roethling. "Bulbs hold onto moisture longer, but when temps warm up, it causes flowers to go fast. We've been really blessed. We've had a good spring."
Roethling says some bulbs are still blossoming, but when the tulips pass their prime, the bulbs will come up and be given to the volunteers who planted them, the town and Körner's Folly.
The Celebration of the Tulips runs this Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., but you can sign up to attend a lecture by Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.
The cost to attend that is $30 per person.