Beat the winter doldrums with the museum's annual floral display. Hundreds of blooms fill areas of the historic mansion with the scent and color of spring. The museum’s historic Conservatory will be filled with thousands of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, amaryllis, and freesias, in various vibrant shades—the same colors Eastman featured 100 years ago. In addition, tropical orchids will be displayed throughout the Palm House and Colonnade, courtesy of the Genesee Region Orchid Society. Also on view on the second floor of the mansion are artifacts from George Eastman’s life in 1916.
During his residency between 1905 and 1932, Eastman ordered tens of thousands of bulbs from Holland every year to decorate his Conservatory. The orders were mostly for tulips, narcissus, and hyacinths for indoor forcing, and tulips for the outside beds.
Eastman’s annual bulb orders were inspired by a trip he made to Holland in 1890, when he was impressed by the tulip fields he saw while bicycling through the countryside. The present-day display is based on Eastman's original orders placed with Dutch bulb companies. The cultivation process began last July, with six thousand bulbs growing since October.
Dutch Connection is sponsored by Gerald P. and Karen S. Kral.
Greenhouse services provided by Lucas Greenhouses.
