First a little history. I didn’t know until we reached Istanbul that these bulbs had been cultivated first in Turkey, by some accounts as early as 1000 AD. “According to Persian legend, the first tulips sprang up from the drops of blood shed by a lover and for a long time the tulip was the symbol of avowed love. Poets sang its praises and artists drew and painted it so often that when imported to Europe it was considered to be the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.” (http://www.sfheart.com/tulip.html)  By 1550, the very wealthy Sultan Suleiman’s Tokapi Palace was filled with tulips.

Holland would not have tulips until the 17th century when the ambassador to Constantinople,  gave them as a gift to a friend and botanist, Carolus Clusius. Clusius planted them in a garden in Leiden (the oldest botanical garden in Europe). He grew them, hybridized them, and initially, gave them away. Soon the tulip became a very popular sign of wealth. Dutch artists included tulips in still life paintings and created special ceramic vases to display single stems of tulips. Thirty years later Holland prized the bulb so highly they created an entire economy around them. In the period from 1630-37, Dutch speculation in tulip futures hit an all time high (the period is known as “tulip mania”). When the bubble burst, people lost their homes and their livelihood. Thankfully, they are no longer literally worth their weight in gold and can be enjoyed by all!

Below are photos from the Keukenhof Garden outside of Amsterdam.  Each year 30 gardeners spend three months planting 7 million bulbs for a garden that is open only eight weeks per year.  Here is just a glimpse at the 79 acre garden…

Keukenhof 2014