Chilled tulips

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:07 JST, December 20, 2021

A field of ice tulips spreads out before the eyes of visitors to Kana Garden, a botanical garden in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Monday. About 8,000 flowers of 20 or so tulip varieties at the garden reached full bloom this month after being frozen and kept in artificial winter conditions. Even though the typical tulip blooming season starts from late March, the bulbs of the garden’s tulips underwent special treatment to have them bloom before Christmas. As temperatures in Hiratsuka have been higher than average lately, the tulips began to bloom a week ahead of schedule. The flowers, however, are likely to last through this weekend.