The bulb fields surrounding Lisse in the Netherlands bloom for only about eight weeks each year — typically late March through May — and the saturation of color during peak season genuinely defies belief. These photographs are not enhanced. The Dutch bulb industry produces roughly three billion tulip bulbs annually, and the fields create a landscape that looks less like agriculture and more like someone laid enormous bolts of fabric across the countryside. Few places on earth are this unapologetically colorful.

Twisted Sifter has a great look at the tulip fields of the Netherlands. Nearly unbelievable in color, these fields grow the majority of the tulips in the world.

The Netherlands is world-famous for their tulip fields. Every year from March to May the Dutch countryside transforms into a sea of colour. According to Nat Geo, the first tulip was planted in Dutch soil in 1593, and it has become a national symbol ever since.

In the series below you will find incredible photographs taken by Bruxelles5. The photographer snapped these from a small prop plane flown by Claython Pender (who has a great blog post on the journey they went on to get these shots).

All of the photos were taken in the former municipality of Anna Paulowna in North Holland. As of January 1, 2012, Anna Paulowna along with three other municipalities were all merged into a new municipality called Hollands Kroon.