If you’re crazy for tulips, then Tulip Mania at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley may be the ideal spring activity for you.
The garden’s second-annual Tulip Mania kicked off on Wednesday, April 17 with 50,000 blooming tulips across two fields, one solely for display and one for picking. The experience lets guests pick up tulips for their own bouquets, take plenty of photos and spend a day soaking up the spring weather.
“Its a fun event even if you’re not a garden person,” Director of Guest Experience, Education and Volunteers Allison Dush told MassLive in the display tulip field Tuesday. “Its great for anyone and it’s a perfect day trip.”
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While the colors of the tulips during MassLive’s visit ranged from red, yellow, purple and pink, Dush said the flowers could change each week as they continue to pop up.
“We still don’t know everything that’s going to pop. It’s kind of a secret,” she explained. “They’re all in succession, so some are coming up but then you’re going to have different colors that come up a little later. So maybe it’s a double visit.”
Dush said the garden saw a little more than 4,000 visitors for Tulip Mania last year, which was started as a method for getting people out of their homes once the winter ended. She expects to see that number double this year.
The Garden at Elm Bank is also more than Tulip Mania. With this being their big spring event, Dush wants people to come back for pick-your-own sunflowers in the summer or to enjoy the space at their leisure.
“We’re continuing programs, always going,” she said. “Tulips are fun, but there’s more in store.”
Tickets for Tulip Mania, which can be bought online, must be purchased ahead of time and for a specific time slot. General admission is $19 for adults and $10 for kids. Tickets are $5 for both children and adults for MHS members.
The ticket includes the five-tulip bundle, but people can pay an additional dollar for every flower picked after if they want a bigger bouquet. Pre-cut bunches of 15 stems can also be bought for $20.
People can come to the garden at any time during their reserved window, but the garden cannot guarantee entry outside that window in case they reach capacity. People can also stay until the garden is closed.
The Garden at Elm Bank, located at 900 Washington St. in Wellesley, is open for Tulip Mania from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day with the last entry at 6 p.m. Tickets are being sold until Sunday, April 28, the last day of Tulip Mania.