A stroll through the tulips

Gov. Ned Lamont visited Preston on Thursday afternoon to highlight a unique business among Connecticut’s pick-your-own farms, Wicked Tulips. Jeroen and Keriann Koeman opened the first Wicked Tulips in Exeter, Rhode Island, before opening the location at 382 Route 164 in Preston. Jeroen Koeman, a native of the Netherlands, grew up in a tulip-farming family, the pair has said. When Keriann Koeman went to visit, she fell in love with picking the flowers. The couple eventually brought the flowers to Connecticut in 2021.

The farm is only open for visits for a few weeks per year, when hundreds of thousands of the tulips in an array of 75 varieties and colors are in bloom. Visitors pay for admission to stroll among the tulips and create their own handpicked bouquets.

Admission is $20 on weekdays and includes 10 tulips. Admission for ages 5 to 17 is $5 and does not include tulips. Admission for 2 and younger is free. To limit the number of entries per day, tickets are only available online.

Wicked Tulips also offers bulbs for sale and pre-cut bouquets. The farm holds yoga sessions on the tulip fields, as well. For tickets and more information, visit wickedtulips.com.

STEPHEN DUNN PHOTOS/SPECIAL TO THE COURANT Gov. Ned Lamont walks with Jeroen Koeman, right, and Keriann Koeman, behind him, co-owners of Wicked Tulips Flower Farm, during a tour of several farms in eastern Connecticut on Thursday. The family-operated small business began in Rhode Island in 2015 and expanded last year to Connecticut. Its Preston location is one of the largest tulip farms in New England.

Lamont talks with Paola Jeri, of Peru, at Wicked Tulips during his tour of several farms Thursday.