Every year, tulip fields in Lisse, Netherlands begin to bloom in March and are in peak bloom by late April. The Dutch produce a total of 4.3bn tulip bulbs each year, of which 53% (2·3bn) are grown into cut flowers. Of these, 1.3bn are sold in the Netherlands as cut flowers and the remainder is exported: 630m bulbs to Europe and 370m elsewhere. (Photo by Benjamin Grant/Penguin Random House)
