An abundance of flowers is a sure sign of spring in California, but a farm in Modesto was forced to end its tulip-picking season early after the event went viral on social media and huge crowds showed up.
John Bos, the owner of Dutch Hollow Farms, told KCRA-TV that the decision to end the season after Monday came after visitors trampled the flowers and picked tulips only to leave them behind.
“It’d be one thing if it was just a handful, but when you’re picking up basket after basket of dead flowers, the thing is, it’s kind of preventing us from being open another weekend,” Bos told the outlet.
Over 250,000 flowers were planted in December for the event, according to KTXL-TV. The first U Pick Tulip Day was Feb. 13, after the tulips bloomed three weeks ahead of schedule. And just two days later, on Feb. 15, Bos was already warning visitors not to pick the tulips if they weren’t taking them home.
“If you can’t control your children or adult children with picking and dumping [the tulips] on the ground. Please don’t come,” Bos said on Instagram. “… Not only does this make my field a blight, it’s essentially theft, you may not be taking it along, but it’s destructive and money out of my pocket.”
More than 10,000 people visited the fields last weekend, Bos told KCRA-TV, leading to long lines and crowded rows. Several visitors told SFGATE that there were signs explaining the rules for picking the tulips.
“It was obvious they were not prepared for the amount of people that were there,” Ashlyn Jones, who visited the fields on Saturday, told SFGATE in a direct message. “I did see people walking through the flowers because the rows were full and that was the only way through them.”
Vanessa Hernandez, who lives nearby, told SFGATE in a direct message that she visited the farm twice this week and noticed a stark difference between the trips.
“I personally went back on Monday since I’m close to the farm and the fields were really empty, and the difference between Sunday to Monday was pretty sad and not many flowers to pick or to get photos of,” Hernandez said.
The flower craze and the damaging impacts from the visitors who come to admire them aren’t limited to Dutch Hollow Farms. As national and state parks across California are seeing an above-average wildflower season, park officials are warning people who come to visit the parks not to “doom the bloom” by picking the flowers or going off-trail. Unlike at Bos’ farm, flower-picking in the public parks is illegal.
Bos said the tulips won’t grow back until next year, but visitors will be invited back for the next tulip season, according to KTXL-TV. The farm plans to reopen to the public for its Spring Craft Fair on March 14 and its Baby Animal Days from March 19 to April 12.
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