The sun is shinning and the weather is getting warmer, time to start thinking about spring! One of the first flowers to bloom in the spring is the tulip. The tulip has a very interesting history.
Originally from Turkey, the flower gained exponential popularity in Holland starting around 1590 and grew from simple admiration of the flower into “Tulipomania.” At its height in the 1630s people would pay exorbitant prices for just one tulip bulb. The most famous tulip in history is called the “Semper Augustus” (pictured at right). Just before Holland’s economic crash in 1637 (mostly caused by the tulip itself) the price of a Semper Augustus was 10,000 guilders – enough to buy a nice house along the canal.
Later, scientists found that the split color found in the Semper Augustus is caused by a fungus that infects the roots of the tulip and yields the tulip barren.
We currently have beautiful tulips that range from yellow and white to purple and orange-yellow (pictured at top left).
