Imagine seeing endless fields of colorful spring tulips while sailing on the waterways of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. LaManda Joy of City Grange and Julianne Gorny of Travel Adventures and Tours are designing a river cruise next April that sounds like a garden-lovers dream come true.
Joy’s vision for City Grange, Beverly is to transform the personal lives of people and their neighborhoods through education and support of local non-profit gardening and environmental organizations and sustainable practices.
Gorny’s travel company, creates specialty themed travel experiences designed to immerse and enlarge your vision of the world.
The women first connected as business owner and customer, but their mutual interests in gardening and travel planted the seed of an idea for collaboration.
“I like to organize joint ventures with businesses or individuals to develop tours around special interests,” Gorny said. “The itineraries I design focus on history, culture, and the arts and I hope to merge philanthropy with supporting artisan communities to help preserve their cultural heritage.”
Gorny had booked a space on a garden-focused river cruise through the Netherlands which includes the International Floriade Horticulture Exposition, the once-in-a-decade exhibition of gardens from around the world as well as a stop at the world-renowned Keukenhof Garden, and asked Joy whether City Grange would be interested in helping promote it.
“I’ve always wanted to share gardening as an inspiration in general,” Joy said. “And other parts of the world have different, beautiful, perspectives worth exploring, learning from and emulating. We all need to fill our creative cup and nothing does that like travel. If our guests who join on the trip are invigorated by what they see and experience they’re likely to share those stories and ideas with others which just makes the gardening world richer. Plus, we can all share in the joy of the common denominator gardening brings to all humans.”
The Tulip Time Cruise to Amsterdam is now booking and scheduled to sail Apr. 12 through 19, 2022.
The Floriade Expo 2022 International Horticultural Expo offers 40 inspiring country presentations; a spectacular greenhouse complex filled with flowers, plants vegetables and fruits; pavilions with sustainable innovations; and a vibrant arts and culture program. The spectacular expo, held once every ten years, is set in the Floriade park just outside Amsterdam and runs for six months. It also showcases Dutch horticultural innovations and solutions for sustainable, liveable cities.
The world’s most beautiful garden, Keukenhof bursts with color in spring when seven million flower bulbs begin to bloom. Open gardens and pavilions feature a fantastic collection of tulips, irises, lilies, hyacinths, daffodils, orchids and other flowers.
Tulip Time Cruise travelers will also enjoy the quaint atmosphere of Amsterdam’s canals, Kinderdijk windmills, Delft porcelain and architectural treasures in the medieval cities of Bruges, Middelburg and Ghent. There will be opportunities to explore by bike and by guided walks to see museums, cathedrals and castles and impressive public gardens.
City Grange is a business that strives to know customers on a more personal, reaches out with special events and educational webinars, and supports local organizations. The cruise is a way for Joy to expand into new audiences and share global gardening ideas.
“By working together on this cruise, we help each other’s businesses grow and give local gardeners the opportunity to experience the Amsterdam area gardens and Floriade first–hand,” Gorny said.
Available spots on the Tulip Time cruise are limited and interested people are encouraged to book soon. For tour details and bookings, contact Julie Gorny, julie@traveladventurestours.com.
