By Kalena Thomhave, Keystone Newsroom
Spring in Pennsylvania brings rain showers, birdsong, and tulips aplenty.
Pennsylvania’s woods are home to beautiful wildflowers and native trees that celebrate the glory of nature. The grand and showy tulip — the red, yellow, orange, purple, or pink, bell-shaped flower — is not a native plant, as it hails not from the Netherlands but from Southern Europe and Central Asia. However, pretty much as soon as international trade accelerated in the 1600s, tulips began to be cultivated all over the world.
The flowers became so popular that tulips were the cause of the first known “economic bubble”. And though people are no longer risking their money by speculating in tulips (we think?), these flowers are still enormously popular — because they’re still enormously beautiful.
During spring, gardens and farms across the country celebrate the new season with fields of bright and colorful tulips, and Pennsylvania is no exception. We’ve put together a list of some of the best places to enjoy tulips across the Commonwealth. But hurry — like all good things, tulip season doesn’t last long!
Hershey Gardens – Hershey
Hershey Gardens, opened by Milton S. Hershey himself in 1937, has displayed colorful tulips each spring for more than 80 years. This spring season, the gardens will be home to more than 60 varieties of 27,000 tulips in a spectrum of colors. Last year, the tulips were planted by hue, creating a rainbow, ombre effect. Be sure to visit the gardens to see how the display was designed this year! Usually, though the weather may have a different plan, the tulips at Hershey Gardens peak in early May.
Longwood Gardens – Kennett Square
One of the best botanic gardens in the country, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square is also one of the best places to see tulips in all their glory. In spring, Longwood’s Flower Garden Walk boasts 600 feet of seasonal blooms, including more than 150,000 tulips and other spring bulbs. Though peak bloom depends on the weather (and we’ve had some weird weather so far in 2024), the best tulip display is expected in mid-April. The botanic garden is also hosting a tulip-focused workshop on April 24 for adult participants to create their own tulip-forward floral designs.
Brown Hill Farms – Tunkhannock
Located in Northeastern Pa. in the rural and picturesque Endless Mountains, Brown Hill Farms has what seems to be endless rows of tulips. Within these fields you can of course admire and take photos of flowers, but you can also pick your own tulips! The U-pick tulip fields — the largest in Pennsylvania — are open from late April through May. The four acres of flowers hold more than 500,000 tulips! Plus, you can fuel your tulip tourism by grabbing snacks like donuts and kettle corn at a farm concession stand.
Bartram’s Garden – Philadelphia
Bartram’s Garden is the country’s oldest surviving botanic garden — and visiting the garden where it’s nestled on the Tidal Schuylkill River in Southwest Philly is completely free! The 50 acres of Bartram’s Garden contain trails, historic sites, and of course, several gardens. As a botanic garden, Bartram’s Garden has been growing flowers, trees, and other plants since 1728. John Bartram himself, the 18th-century botanist for whom the garden is named, cultivated what might have been some of the first tulips in the U.S. here. He received tulip bulbs from customers in England, in exchange for Pennsylvania-grown plants. Nowadays, a bevy of tulips bloom at the public park each spring, usually in late April.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens – Pittsburgh
Each spring, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens shows off tens of thousands of the season’s most colorful and delightful flowers, including the fan-favorite tulip. In 2024, Phipps’s Spring Flower Show waves a final goodbye to winter with creative and fun displays of spring flowers based on the theme “A Closer Look.” You’ll be able to use magnifying glasses spread throughout the flower show to take in the smallest details of a flower. Besides tulips and other spring blooms like hyacinths and narcissus, the show includes intricate topiaries, rotating kaleidoscope designs, and chrysalid sculptures. But as spring flowers have a short life, so does the spring show: it runs until just April 14!
Burket Farm – Tyrone
Burket Farm, which got its start in 2021, is a U-pick tulip farm located in west-central Pa.’s Blair County, just two hours from Pittsburgh. Rather than the admission fees you may pay to visit large botanic gardens with tulips just one attraction among many, Burket Farm charges just $5 to enter. The farm opens to visitors when tulip season begins, which is sometime in mid-April — follow the Burket Farm website to see when the farm’s opening date is announced!
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden – Pittsburgh
Tulips take center stage at many botanic gardens in springtime, so of course Pittsburgh Botanic Garden celebrates the seasonal, storied flower. You can see tulips at the Peirce Celebration Garden, the Peirce Courtyard Garden, and outside the Welcome Center. The first tulips bloomed at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden in late March! You can also take advantage of the other attractions at the botanic garden, like lovely trails through woodlands among the 65 acres of public gardens.
City Parks – Philadelphia
You need not necessarily travel far to see tulips blooming this spring, because many Philadelphia city parks are home to vivid tulip gardens! Last winter, the Center City District planted 41,000 tulip bulbs in its public parks, which will make their appearance in mid-April. You can take a self-guided tulip tour at parks like Cret Park, which has a café so you can sip an (iced!) coffee while admiring the flowers, and Logan Square, where you can enjoy thousands of tulips planted by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society.
