Tulips - The Fascinating Story Behind This Favorite Flower

Posted By Allen's Flower Market On Tuesday, 08 March 2022 Back

Tulips - The Fascinating Story Behind This Favorite Flower

Tulips - The Fascinating Story Behind This Favorite Flower

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Tulips Might Be The Most Popular Flower in History - Here’s Why

Tulips are a romantic, flirty, showy flower with a delicate bulb that serves as the centerpiece of many of our favorite romantic bouquets. Like many plants that are household names today, the tulip is not native to America. In fact, it was once considered one of the world’s most exotic, desirable blooms. This innocent-looking flower was at the center of one of the most remarkable stories of global trade, price inflation, and luxury living. 

The tulip was originally a wildflower that grew happily in central Asia, in the mountainous region where China, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Russia all come together. There are records of its earliest cultivation in Constantinople dating back about a thousand years. In the 1400s, Sultan Mehmed II became entranced by the tulip and demanded lush gardens filled with these sultry blooms during the Ottoman Empire. Legend has it that the Sultan’s 12 gardens were so filled with flowers that he needed 920 gardeners to tend to them appropriately. The tulip, named after the Turkish word for turban, were among the most prized flowers of the era and became a symbol of the Ottoman period. Sultans were known to stick a tulip in the fold of their turban as a display of grace and prosperity.

People who have some familiarity with tulip lore are more likely to associate the flower with the Netherlands than with Turkey. Indeed, Dutch trade brought the world’s passion for tulips to a new level. Tulips first made their appearance in Western Europe in the late 16th century, the height of the Renaissance period, which favored beauty, harmony, luxury, and the pleasures of discovery. A Viennese biologist named Carolus Clusius most likely brought the first tulips to the Netherlands after discovering them through a friend who was an ambassador to Constantinople. When Clusius took a professor role in the Netherlands, his tulip fascination – and the bulbs themselves – came with him. 

And so “tulipmania” began, a brief period when people with lots of money invested in tulips to grow for personal use and trade. Tulips became immensely fashionable, and people were willing to pay to be in style. The tulip craze saw hundreds of Dutch people buying and selling the flowers at wildly inflated prices. Since 1600s Holland was in a moment of unmatched wealth and prosperity, the Dutch had money to spend. Certain tulips – notably bulbs with striped or speckled petals – became highly coveted collectors’ items. From showy centerpieces to tradeable goods, tulips spiked in price in a very short period, creating what we would call a “bubble” in today’s terms. Sure enough, the bubble burst abruptly, causing economic shock waves in Dutch society. These days, the tulip is still the most important flower in the Netherlands. A trip to the Dutch countryside will reveal miles of delightful bulb fields with endless rows of tulips. 

We love the versatility of the tulip as a casual gesture of kindness, a romantic gift, or a harbinger of Spring. At Allen’s Flower Market, we carry an impressive variety of tulip arrangements in ruby red, bubblegum pink, deep purple, yellow, white, magenta, and orange. Some arrangements, like the cheerful Tulip Bonanza, pair bright hues and warm colors, emanating high energy and positivity. The delicate pastels in the Tulips of Spring are the perfect complement to sunnier days and the Easter season. For a more avant-garde arrangement, we bring out the exotic history of the tulip by artfully arranging it among orchids and calla lilies in Slipstream.

Allen’s Flower Market has been family-owned and operated for over 40 years and has four Southern California locations. Visit us at any of our floral design stores in Long Beach, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, and Sunland-Tujunga, or call us at 877.981.9499. We are proud to offer you the freshest, most evocative tulips – and we are here to help create a custom bouquet if you have a special vision. Please have a look at our latest floral creations at https://www.allensflowermarket.com/