Tulip Festival Laval: What you need to know

It is hard for me to believe that I didn’t know there was a Laval Tulip Festival. So after writing about the Laval Tulip farm I had to check it out.

Here is what we learned.

There is a short window the Tulip field is open so don’t miss out. The entire ‘season’ for Tulipes.ca is around 2.5 weeks. This year due to the weather it opened around 2 weeks later than expected. Pay attention to the weather to figure out when to go. This year we found the second week better when there are more tulips ready to pick.
The entire process is easy. You can either buy your admission tickets online or when you arrive. Remember it’s cheaper during the week. You can also either pre-buy tulips, buy them onsite or you don’t need to buy any at all, you can just show up enjoy the view and go home tulip-less.
- You don’t even need to pick flowers – they have pre-cut flowers for sale.
Although it’s a farm dogs are NOT ALLOWED to wander around. We brought our puppy and they were nice enough to let us carry her in our arms. At on point she jumped out of our arms and we found out why… puppies will try to eat the flowers!
- Strollers aren’t allowed on the tulip field either.
You don’t need any tools! Tulips are easy to pick. You hold the tulip by the stem as close as possible to the ground and pull. We tried to find the longest stems.
- note: They told us to pick the tulips that were still closed but colorful and not green.
Don’t take home the bulbs. If you end up pulling up a bulb you don’t keep it. They need the bulbs to re-grow next year. If you happen to pull them up, no worries they will cut them for you when they wrap your flowers.
Bring a large bucket. Although your tulips shouldn’t die on the drive home, your flowers will do better if put into water right away.
The field is tulips because tulips are the owners favorite flower! John also owns Venus Flowers in downtown Montreal. Lucky for us we now have a spring tradition, if he would have liked roses, it wouldn’t have been so easy.
The staff gift wrap the tulips for free. We bought 30 tulips and the staff were nice enough to wrap the tulips 3-4 per for my kids teachers.
- The staff are knowledgeable and patient, even if you have a bunch of questions.
Take photos! You can book an area for a photo shoot, but just bring your camera and in the sunshine you’ll get some great bright photos.
The best time to go is on the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday L’agneau de Laval offers roasted lamb and there are activities and events.

How do you care for your tulips?

After speaking with the owner, I was informed you should cut the flower as closest to the root as you can. When you get home put the flowers in a vase filled 1/3 way with room temperature water. He also suggested that you throw a penny in the water will help prevent your tulips from drooping. I threw one in mine and a week later they were still standing perfectly up!

It is also recommended to change the water every few days to make sure they last longest. To be honest I was shocked at how long tulips stay in good shape. To be honest, it really changed my opinion of tulips and I can’t wait for next spring!

Martha suggests adding plant food or sugar to the water.