TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. — Spring has sprung in the WNEP backyard, and across all of northeastern and central Pennsylvania. At Brown Hill Farms in Tunkhannock, spring is especially colorful, with more than a half million tulips dotting their fields.
Brown Hill Farms is the largest producer of tulips in the entire state of Pennsylvania. The beginning of May is the peak of the tulip season, so Brown Hill Farms decided to host a Baby Animal Festival to enhance the celebration of spring with cuteness.
There was a baby Jacob sheep, a baby Scottish Highlander cow, baby ducks, baby chicks, and baby goats.
Michele Brown, co-owner of Brown Hill Farms along with her husband Scott Brown, explained, "You know, we're having so many babies born on the farm, and people are just drawn to the baby animals, and we wanted to have a couple special days where people could get a close-up encounter with [them]."
And as if the adorable farm animals weren't enough to draw you in, the farm boasts over 60 varieties of tulips on land that the family has farmed since 1868 over 5 generations. There are over 3000 varieties of tulips in the world.
In addition to the common varieties, there are s fringed tulips with needle-like spikes along the edges; Rembrandt tulips, which look like a canvas of an abstract watercolor painting; and impressive double tulips, with intricate layers of petals that mimic peonies. Brown Hill Farms also boasts many hybrid varieties.
Michele beamed, "We have five acres of tulips this year, about 500,000 planted. Half a million tulips, yes, and they're all in full bloom right now." She went on, "My favorite tulip is a tulip called Princess Irene. You'll see it if you're wandering the farm. It's an orange tulip, and it is absolutely stunning this year."
Visitors came from all over the region to take family photos in the fields.
The Van Keuren Family came all the way from Sullivan County, New York. Taylor and Lauren Van Keuren took photos in and amongst the tulips with their toddler, Ellis. Lauren confessed, "Little announcement pictures too—yes, [we're] expecting number 2!"
Clari T. from Port Jervis came with her two young daughters, Frannie and Fiona. "We wanted to come out and coordinate with all the beautiful scenery," she exclaimed.
For some, it is a yearly tradition.
Katelin Volk of Montrose came with her friends for her second year in a row. "Last year, it was a lot more rainy, so this year, it's really great to see them all out in bloom. And then they have the baby animals, and I'm a vet tech, [my friend is] a veterinarian," she grinned.
One group of friends came from Wilkes-Barre and enjoyed the newest addition to the farm—the slide. They highly recommended the slide despite wiping out on one of their trips down.
The weather was not ideal for most flowers at the end of April. There was a stretch of cold nights, with temperatures in central and northeastern Pennsylvania area dropping below freezing several nights in a row.
Turns out the tulip is tenacious.
Michele explained, "If we can stay above 26, the tulips will be fine. If they're not blooming, they can get even colder than that. They're a freeze-tolerant plant for sure."
Closing out April, we spanned the gamut in temperatures. In addition to the cold overnight lows, we also had some record highs.
With hot daytime temperatures, tulips come out of the ground quicker, and they bloom faster. "They definitely prefer cold weather over hot weather," Michele said.
But not even hot weather can ruin a tulip crop. The real threat to tulips comes in the winter: if rain is followed by a sustained deep freeze. 3 years ago, the Brown Family lost most of their tulips to this type of weather event.
Michele recalled, "If there's water in the ground and then they freeze, that is a problem for the bulb. It turns to mush in the ground. Yeah, that [year] was very challenging."
This is the 5th year they have planted tulips, and the 2nd year they have held a Baby Animal Festival. The farm's fields will be open for tulip picking until Mother's Day. Tickets sell out quickly, especially on weekends, and you must have them in advance in order to enter the farm.