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Every rose has its thorn, so check out the Hot Springs tulips

Garvan Woodland Gardens' annual tulip show is having its most successful year to date with thousands of visitors coming from all across the country.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KTHV) – Spring is in full swing at the Garden with over 150,000 tulips in bloom. The tulips come from the Netherlands.

This is the 15th year of the Tulip Extravaganza. Shelor said this year is the most people she has ever seen.

“We have approximately 120 different varieties of tulips that you can see throughout the garden. We are at around 98 percent bloom right now,” Garden Manager Minnie Shelor said. "It's been phenomenal this year. We've had a couple of days that have beat our peak just for one day in the garden. It gets bigger and bigger every year. The attendance goes up."

Twelve gardeners are in charge of replanting the tulips every year. Shelor said Arkansas’s winters do not get cold enough for the tulips’ bulbs to freeze.

“We start [planting] in October and then we move all the way into December or January most years,” Shelor said.

She also said this year’s show is better than previous years. Over the last two years, hail storms damaged some of the tulips. “Weather’s cooperated. Tulips are cooperating. Everything’s timing out perfectly,” she said.

The tulip show is so popular, it has turned into a tradition for some families. Milanie Matthews would come with her husband every year.

"This is the first year I've come on my own,” Matthews said. "Was here in the past with my husband. He died. I think this is the last place we were together, was here last year.”

Bill Bauer came from Wisconsin to see the show. He and his wife spent the winter in Hot Springs to escape the cold.

"You got to come to Garvan. No matter where you're from. I hear people from Texas and all over the United States come in to see it,” Bauer said. But if you want to get out and see the tulips, do not wait long! Shelor said she expects the tulips to last another four to six weeks before teams have to dig them up to get them ready for next year.

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