Tulips galore!
Now is the time when the northern part of the Netherlands is transformed into a brightly colored sea of blossoms. The tulip season is the tourism highlight in the spring.
Fields of blossoms
The Dutch are the number one exporters of flowers worldwide, and run 80 percent of the tulip trade. There are about 4,000 different tulip varieties. Planted in the fields in the autumn, starting in mid-March they light up the landscape all the way to the horizon.
The scent of spring
The scent of blossoms wafts through the air over fields and flower beds. At the high point of the flowering bulb season in Holland on April 23, it smells of tulips, hyacinths and narcissus. That's when the decorated floats of the "Bloemencorso Bollenstreek," the Bollenstreek Flower Parade, pass through the streets between Haarlem and Leiden.
The garden of Europe: Keukenhof
The country estate, which dates from 1642, is now the main attraction of the Bollenstreek region. Its park comprises more than 30 hectares. From mid-March until late May, seven million bulb flowers bloom in it. Every year, more than 80,000 visitors from around the world come to the tiny Dutch village of Lisse to take in the huge flower show.
The Keukenhof theme 2017: Dutch Design
Dutch design is incorporated in the flower bulb mosaic, one of the highlights of the theme year. In addition, the flower shows in the Oranje Nassau Pavilion are entirely in the style of Dutch Design. Two of the inspirational gardens are also dedicated to the theme: the Mondriaan Garden with its primary square color patches will be a great attraction to the international public.
Why tulips are called tulips
Tulips originally come from the Middle East and central Asia. The name tulip seems to come from the Turkish "tülbent," and ultimately from the Persian "dulband," meaning turban, possibly referring to the shape of its flowers. This led to the designation "tulipa turcarum," "tulip of the Turks," although actually the Turkish word for tulip is "lale."
How tulips came to Europe
More than 400 years ago, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq traveled to what was then Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, now the Turkish city of Istanbul, as the Austrian emperor's ambassador. Tulips from Persia were in blossom in the sultan's garden. The diplomat sent bulbs and seeds to Vienna as a present.
The rise of a flower
As prefect of the imperial medical garden in Vienna, the Flemish botanist Charles de l'Écluse came into the possession of tulip seeds. In 1593 he became a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands and cultivated tulips in the interests of science and scholarship. It's presumed that thieves stole bulbs in order to sell them for profit. In this way, the vogue for tulips spread.
Expensive tulips
In the 17th century, the tulip advanced to be queen among the flowers. During the period known as tulip mania, up to 10,000 guilders were offered for one bulb of "Semper Augustus," a multi-colored tulip with white stripes. That was the price of a townhouse in Amsterdam at the time. The original genetic line of this tulip is extinct. Nowadays there are modern cultivars with similar variegation.
Tulip tips
If you want to keep cut tulips from becoming lanky and drooping out of the vase, fill it with only a little water, or pierce the stems several times with a needle just below the flower heads. That will restrict the amount of growth hormone they release when cut. But purists leave tulips to do what they do naturally, and love them when they're half-faded, with petals raining down around the vase.