Production of the popular 2024 film Wicked seemed to favor practical set design over CGI, culminating in the planting of over nine million tulips on the set of Munchkinland.

The film’s production designer, Nathan Crowley, planted a large quantity of tulips to create the look of the magical village in the Wicked musical movie adaptation. Crowley stated that he and director Jon M. Chu wanted the set to be “wondrous and colorful” and came up with the idea that the munchkins would be tulip farmers.

“And the tulips are the colors of the rainbow, so that all ties in with themes of its history,” Crowley told PEOPLE.

Crowley recalls being met with skepticism from fellow crew members when he proposed physically planting these tulips rather than creating them using CGI.

“I go into these production meetings, I try to convince everyone. I didn’t tell them we were growing nine million. I said I want to grow a lot of tulips. I didn’t know how many we were growing, but I knew we had to grow enough that they went into their horizon,” stated Crowley.

According to Variety, Crowley worked with Norfolk, England, tulip farmer Mark Eves to get all the bulbs he needed. At around four cents per bulb, the real tulips were comparable in price to the cost of special effects.

Additionally, the flowers were reused at Belmont Farms, which is owned by Eves. The farm will open to the public next April, allowing visitors to experience the tulips from Oz’s Munchkindland.

“Mark [Eves] plants them,” Crowley stated. “Tulip farming is about putting the bulbs in the ground, you grow the flowers and you chop the heads off.” He adds, “The bulbs get bigger, and the next season, you put the bulb in the greenhouse, and that’s where you get your flowers. So he took the bulbs and grew them.”