This week we’re talking about tulips, at a place that is a must visit for Tulip lovers, Waterdrinker Family Farm in Suffolk County.

You will find more than 2 million tulips in bloom at both their Manorville and Riverhead farms at the annual Long Island Tulip Festival. Attendees can stroll through the fields of tulips in a show reminiscent of the Netherlands. The festival also offers family-friendly activities, like mini golf, jump pads, mazes, and a barnyard with animals. The festival ends in early May, so enjoy it while it lasts!

Gardeners, get this - all of the tulip bulbs are up for grabs after the festival ends! At the farm’s dig days in late May, visitors can bring home as many tulip bulbs as they can carry for the cost of entry.

The farms are changed over for sunflowers during the summer and new tulip bulbs are planted in autumn for next year’s festival.

Ever notice how tulip flowers close at night and open during the day? The flowers respond to cooler and warmer temperatures, which is called thermostatic movement. They also are nyctinastic, which means they open wider during the day and close at night or on cloudy days.

This movement protects them from the weather and helps attract pollinators during the right conditions

Tulip bulbs are usually planted in autumn. That’s when you’ll find packs of bulbs at the store, and most of those come from the Netherlands — the world’s largest tulip bulb exporter. But tulips themselves are not native to Europe.

Tulips naturally grow in Central Asia, typically in mountainous regions of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and parts of western China. They were first cultivated more than 1,000 years ago, but didn’t become popular in the western world until more recently.

Today’s common spring flowers, first made their way to Europe in the 16th century and were particularly popular with the Dutch. According to some reports, the Netherlands experienced a “Tulip Mania,” where a single tulip bulb was sold for the price of a house! Today tulips are a lot cheaper, and are the national symbol of the Netherlands.

Although a single tulip bloom only lasts for about 2 weeks, you can mix with early, mid, and late season varieties to extend the bloom season for up to 6 weeks.