The tulip has always been renowned for its timeless beauty. Tulips today are sought after as much as they ever were in the past, for any occasion – weddings, baby showers, birthdays… you name it. These pretty flowers come in an array of colours, shapes and sizes – some are even fragrant, making them the ideal flower to give as a gift.
The tulip was originally a wild flower growing across the landscapes of southern Europe, north Africa and central Asia. It was cultivated as early as 1000AD. In the 17th century it was brought to western Europe by Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna. The flower was used as a garden decoration and for its medicinal properties, but it wasn’t long before the tulip became an object of desire with a price to match.
People even began to sell their worldly goods to buy tulips, either to gain a higher class status or to buy into the trading of the tulip. This craze was known as ‘Tulipomania’. However, as the 20th century hit, cultivation of the tulip grew further and prices shrank. This actually forced a lot of people into bankruptcy.
Cultivation and mixing of the 100 tulip species has created to date over 4,000 types of tulips (including hybrids and mutations). This is why we get such differences in size, height, fragrance and colour. Without this mix of species, we would not be able to enjoy the beauty of the black tulip, for example.
Tulips are cultivated, grown and exported from Holland. This isn’t a short process – tulips have a vast blooming time all the way from the beginning of March through to the end of May. Not only are tulips decorative, they also hold a great deal of symbolic meaning: yellow tulips symbolise cheerful thoughts, white conveys forgiveness, purple represents royalty and red tulips demonstrate perfect love.
Today, we are spoilt for choice with the amount of tulips available. To demonstrate your individuality and personal style, you can choose a tulip that suits your mood or thoughts with its colour, size, shape and fragrance. A bouquet of tulips is also the perfect way to express forgiveness or to declare your love for someone special.
