Few flowers draw appreciative gasps like the tulips of Holland, and the Netherlands garden at Royal Flora Ratchaphruek - just opened in Chiang Mai and continuing through January - has understandably been the focus of early publicity.

This gorgeous contribution to the International Gardens zone at the horticultural exposition was designed by Niek Roozen, whose work can be seen across Europe and increasingly around Asia.

In Chiang Mai, he's captured the essence of this year's anniversary celebrations for His Majesty the King in the form of an affectionate postcard from his country to ours.

Roozen is a landscape architect whose 24-year-old company in the Netherlands, Niek Roozen Ltd, designs green spaces for both public and private institutions. But he loves his special assignments.

His own country's Floriade is the world's best-known horticultural exhibition, held every 10 years, and he was not only in charge of the last one in 2002, he's planning the next.

Before then, visitors to the 2010 World Expo in China will also see the 40-hectare central park now being mapped out by the NITA Design Group, where Roozen is chief architect. The group won an international competition last year to create the park, and Roozen has since become a regular visitor to China to supervise the project.

He's previously had a big hand in floral celebrations in Osaka, Japan, and Kunming, China, and this year served as general adviser to the Shenyang International Horticultural Exhibition.

Roozen was in Chiang Mai a week before Royal Flora Ratchaphruek opened to oversee its completion. He could be seen pottering around in the attire of his trade - shorts and a light shirt with a broad-brimmed hat to keep the sun at bay.

Beneath the shade of the trees he's happy to talk about his work and the current project, particularly the "greetings from the Netherlands" theme.

"It's a Dutch tradition to send postcards to friends on different occasions to express our love, while here it means our love for His Majesty and all the Thai people and also the people of the world," he says. "I've found that Thais have a great passion for flowers, so I made this garden like a living postcard with a windmill and 5,000 tulips extending outward."

The tulip bulbs arrived safely three months ago and were kept in temperature-controlled storage before being planted at the Dutch Pavilion last Sunday.

"Just as we do in Holland, we controlled the temperature to mimic the arrival of spring. The blooming period lasts only a week," Roozen explains.

He was worried the subtropical heat here might be a shock for the tulips once they were in their beds outdoors, but he's now confident there will be a successful bloom around the middle of December and again in mid-January.

The Dutch garden's windmill is a lovely touch, a national symbol that Roozen likes to replicate in every Asian setting.

The windmill and the tulips are what people customarily see in Dutch landscapes, he says, but in the pavilion itself there's a greenhouse where visitors can learn what modern horticulture is all about in the Netherlands.

"The concept is the 'Green City Philosophy', the four walls covered with big-leaf ivy to represent as a modern green creation."

Eastwest Seed Company, a multinational producer of vegetable seeds, is showcasing newly developed vegetables in a market in the greenhouse.

Explaining all this to visitors each day is Roozen's elder son.

Having someone describe the green concept is better than having just printed guides, he feels.

"We want to talk about the benefits of plants in various aspects - from cleaning the air to filtering water and repelling biting insects," Roozen says. "It's all about combining green with technology so we'll have a good quality of life in the future.

"You'll see this is not just beautiful flowers to view."

Vipasai Niyamabha

The Nation