Thousands of tulips of various shapes and colours will be in bloom for more than a month at Arboretum Volčji Potok, Slovenia's largest and most popular botanical gardens.

The arboretum opened its annual Spring Flower Show on 8 April but the tulips were planted in such a way that they will be in bloom for over a month.

Some of the early varieties came into bloom in early March and the latest ones will not blossom until early May. Thus, the flower design will change every two weeks.

They have not planted tulips in Lower English Park for some years now, but this time they have created blooming spirals there.

Long lines of tulips will bloom on the lawn along the central tree-lined path, and in the large beds in front of the manor house tulips have been combined with pansies.

More than 350 varieties of tulips have been planted along the newly paved path between the entrance and the manor.

The show will also feature a crafts fair and the visitors will be able to cast their vote to select the king tulip among varieties in the "celebrity lane" such as the Abba, Mata Hari, Julius Caesar and Dior.

Located near Kamnik, some 20 kilometres north from Ljubljana, Arboretum Volčji Potok is a spacious landscape park, extending over 85 hectares.

Apart from tulips and other flowers, it features rhododendrons, roses and water lilies, a variety of trees and shrubs, a natural forest and wet meadows. A new addition is a ten-metre-high lookout tower.