Keukenhof, in the Dutch city of Lisse, features some 7 million spring-flowering bulbs, mostly tulips. (John Scheepers Beauty from Bulbs / The Associated Press) ...

The couple composted 7.41 acres of tulip bulbs out of 61-plus acres they had planted, a loss of some $180,000. Floral auctions, run by Royal FloraHolland in several Dutch towns such as Rijnsburg ...

Dutch Hollow Farms is open every day from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., ... Owner John Bos Jr., aka Farmer John, plants about 100,000 tulip bulbs each season, ...

The Dutch learned that tulips could be grown from seeds or buds that grew on the mother bulb; a bulb that grows from seed would take 7 to 12 years before flowering, but a bulb itself could flower ...

Then, on February 3, 1636, a bulb didn’t sell at an auction in the Dutch city of Haarlem—and that failure to sell caused prices to drop. The bubble was over.

Appreciating Dutch clichés, from tulips to windmills ... This 80-acre park is the greatest bulb-flower garden on earth — with more than seven million blooming bulbs and 800 tulip varieties.

International sales of tulips alone rake in 250 million euro annually for the country, leading the Dutch to set aside nearly 35,000 acres of land to grow the bulbs.