About Bulbs

Where Texas Tulips are Born

Bulbs in Holland: The Netherlands (Holland) is one of the smallest countries in the world, with 16 million inhabitants. It is situated in Western Europe, between Germany, Belgium and at the other side of the North Sea, England. The Capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam.

The Netherlands is well known for its flowers, wind mills and dikes. The bulb fields in the provinces of North and South Holland are at their most beautiful in April and May, when tulips, narcissus and hyacinths are in bloom.

The Netherlands produces 60 percent of the world's commercially-grown flowers.

The cultivation of flower bulbs for commercial purposes started in Haarlem and the surrounding area about 400 years ago. Later, the cultivation spread to the north and more especially to the south. The area between Haarlem and Leiden eventually became known as 'De bollenstreek' - the bulb district.

For many years, a large part of the population earned their living from bulbs, whether in nurseries, export, or in industries that supplied the sector. The town of Lisse, regarded itself as the centre of the bulb-growing area, boasted a postmark that declared: "Lisse, the centre of the bulb district".

Alongside this bulb-growing district, a second one developed during World War I in the most northern area of the province of North-Holland, the Anna Paulowna Polder. Initially it was the large nursery-export companies who purchased land here, for a much lower price than they had to pay in the bulb-growing district.

After World War II, there was a massive expansion in the cultivation of flower bulbs here. After 1945, a new centre emerged in the Noordoostpolder (the North-East Polder), where mainly tulips, lilies and gladioli are cultivated.

Flower Bulbs: As decoration for Spring and Summer

Most of the flower bulbs are strikingly decorative in the garden because of their bright, clear colours. Others are conspicuous for their special flower shape, scent and other qualities.

Because the Dutch, in particular, have been so involved in the importing, developing and hybridizing of the currently recognised species, much attention has been given to these topics.

The hardy bulbous plants are usually planted in the autumn and then bloom the following spring, early in the summer or mid-summer.

The non-hardy ones are planted in spring and bloom during the summer or autumn.


From Grower to you: the Process

Certain bulbs, tubers and corms, such as Gladiolus, Dahlia and Lily, are called summer-flowering bulbs, these are planted in the spring, whilst others such as Tulip, Hyacinth, Narcissus and Crocus, are called spring-flowering bulbs and are planted in autumn or winter, in Texas.

After blooming the flowers are removed from the bulbs. This causes the bulb to use all the nutrient reserves to grow, for the bigger the bulb, the more (or larger) flowers it will be able to produce later on.

In the bulb company's storage area where the saleable bulbs are kept, they are exposed to a range of temperatures. These depend upon the flowering dates required by the country of destination.

At the present time, there are just over 240 bulb exporters in the Netherlands. Just as in the production sector, expansion has also taken place with traders. About 70 exporters account for over 75% of bulb exports. On the export market too, a trend can be seen towards market specialization (forcing or dry sales) and country of destination.  Western Europe, the US and Japan are the three largest consumers of flower bulbs from Holland.

The History Of Tulips 

The Father of European Tulips

     
Carolus Clusius or Charles de l' Ecluse (1526-1609) is one of the most famous botanists of the early seventeenth century. He was a contemporary of Rembert Dodoens (a herbalist) and Lobelius. The fact thatClusius, although he had studied medicine, was chiefly active as a botanist, has contributed to his great qualities. He was the first to take the important step from herbalist to describing botanist. He described the plants according to their exact form, in short and terse terms, and tried to use shortest possible names. He often confined his descriptions to only two words, a practice  which, in later years, was adopted by Linnaeus. The name of Clusius is synonymous with tulips and bulb growing. It is generally assumed that he was the first person growing tulips in Holland. Besides, he gave much of his material (bulbs and seed) to others.

Where Tulips were Born 

The tulip is generally thought to have originated in Turkey. Its cradle, however, can be found much further to the east, near the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. The extensive Turkish or Ottoman Empire of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) stretched from North Africa into Hungary and covered the larger part of Asia Minor. At the court of Constantinople (which after the conquest, in 1543, became the capital of the Ottoman Empire), high value was set on landscape gardening and the cultivation of tulips. Like many other products, tulips were brought from the outer provinces to the capital. This great interest in tulips had also been observed by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, the ambassador of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I. As far back as 1555, he mentioned them in his letter to Vienna. In Western Europe, the bloom of the first 'Tulip of the Turks' was reported by Conrad Gesner in 1561.
Clusius, then Prefect of the Imperial Herb Garden in Vienna, succeeded in obtaining tulip bulbs and seeds, too. During his Viennese period, but also after 1577 in Frankfurt and after 1593 as Horti Praefectus in Leiden, Clusis performed elaborate crossbreeding and sowing tests with his various species that reached him through Busbecq and others. His important work 'Rariorum aliquot stirpium per Hispanias observatorum Historia, libris duobus express' dating back from 1567 (the very first Flora of a specific region, based on Clusius' own observations during a journey through Spain) contains an appendix which has nothing to do with the Spanish flora. In this appendix, Clusius describes all kinds of bulbous plants, especially tulips, he had received from Turkey. These were mostly cultivated products. We now know that the first early-flowering tulips that came to Europe originated from the area around Kaffa in the Crimean, viz. Tulipa schrenkii. This species has the characteristics of the 'Duc van Tol' tulips, which also flower early and can be regarded as the precursors of the 'Single Early Tulips'. Of these and other very old varieties, a considerable number of forms have been presented at the 'Hortus Bulborum' in Limmen. A selection of them has also been planted in the Botanical Garden (Hortus) of Leiden. In this way, they are prevented from becoming extinct. One of the very oldest 'Duc van Tol' tulips still existing is a yellow and red variety, which was described already in 1620.
Among the illustrations serving as examples for the woodcuts in the works of, among others, Clusius, is a beautiful picture of a pink tulip closely resembling 'Duc van Tol'. A picture of this illustration was already published in 1609.

Different tulip groups developed at different times

Tulips are subdivided into groups which are defined e.g., by flowering time, form of flower and size. Some examples: the single early tulips feature the oldest varieties, many of them are still marketed today and date back to the 19th century. The origin of the double early tulips is unclear, unfortunately. They presumably stem from the 'Murillo' produced in 1850.
The darwin tulips are the product of the 20th century. Due to their long and firm stems and beautifully formed flowers, they have a good reputation as cut-flowers. The lily-flowered tulips have long narrow-waisted flowers with pointed petals. Parrot tulips also date back to the 17th century. They often have two colours and twisted, fringed petals.
  
  
 Tulip Time Line

1000 AD
Records show that tulips were in cultivation in Turkey as early as this.

1100
Tulips are used in the initials of an Italian bible.

12th century
Omarr Khayam writes a poem about tulips.

13th century
The poet, Rumi, sings the praises of tulips in many songs.

1520-1566
The 'Tulip Era' takes place in Turkey under Suleiman II.

1557
First drawing of a tulip in western Europe.

1561
First book in which a tulip is portrayed (C. Gesner).

1568
First portrayal of a tulip in a Dutch book. (R. Dodoens' 'Cruydtboeck' (Herbal).

1578
First tulip appears in England.

1581
Matthias de l' Obel describes 41 varieties of tulips in his 'Cruydtboeck'.

1593
Carolus Clusius plants the first tulip in the Botanical Garden in Leiden, the Netherlands.

1594
The first tulips bloom in the Netherlands.

1598
The first tulip appears in France.

1600-1650
The tulip is an exclusive garden plant. It is planted in strategic places in the garden.

1600
Establishment of the first cultivation operations south of Haarlem, especially along the Wagenweg and the Kleine Houtweg. These absolute monopolies would hold onto their positions for about 150 years.

1612
Emanuel Swerts publishes the first trade catalogue and includes tulips in it.

1610-1637
The development of a lively trade in tulip bulbs results in a wild speculation in tulips. It was especially during 1623 and 1637 that prices rose steeply. An example: 'Semper Augustus' cost 1200 florins per bulb in 1624; in 1625 it cost 3000 florins; in 1633 it cost 5000 florins; and in 1637, 3 bulbs cost 30.000 florins. In comparison, a house along a canal in Amsterdam cost 10.000 florins in those days. This period may receive a lot of attention. Since that time there has never been such a speculation in the Netherlands.

1630
The first parrot tulip is described.

1650
The firm of Voorhelm is established in Haarlem.

1651
A record of tulips written by F. Morin appears in Paris.

1661
The Elector from Brandenburg records 126 different tulips in an inventory.

1700-1730
Tulipmania in Turkey. Mohammed Lalizari is a great tulip enthusiast. During this time he imports thousands of bulbs to Turkey from the Netherlands.

18th century
The Tulip becomes less important than the hyacinth. Around 1730 there is somewhat of a speculation in hyacinths.

1730-1740
The Margrave van Baden-Durlack publishes a catalogue which includes the statement that he has bought bulbs from 17 Dutch companies, 15 of them in Haarlem.

1734
Dialogue of Waermondt and Gaergoedt about the tulip speculation is published again, this time as a result of a threatening speculation in hyacinths.

1750
The introduction of the tulip called 'Keizerskroon' (still cultivated on 2.3 ha of land in the Netherlands).

19th century
Cultivation is expanded, at first in the direction of Overveen and Bloemendaal, and then, in the second half of the nineteenth century, toward Hillegom, Lisse and Noordwijk. Tulips were included in the group called 'bijgoed' (miscellaneous kinds of bulbs and tubers). Only hyacinths were listed under the term 'bollen' (bulbs).

1815
Introduction of the tulip variety 'Couleur Cardinal' [still cultivated today on 23 hectares in the Netherlands; it has also produced a number of mutants such as 'Arma' (44 ha) and 'Prinses Irene' (72 ha)].

1849
J.B. van der Schoot is the first 'bollenreiziger' (travelling bulb salesman) to go to the United States. Bulbs were sold to the U.S. from Holland as early as the 18th century.

1860
Introduction of the fragrant tulip 'Prins van Oostenrijk' and the double early tulip, 'Murillo'.

1872
The discovery of T. greigii takes place via P.L. Graeber. Bulbs are sent to C.G. van Tubergen who ensures that the tulips are introduced.

187-
E.A. Regal described Tulips kaufmanniana.

1889
Introduction of Darwin tulips. Introduction of 'Bartigon' in 1898. These tulips would turn out to be the most commonly cultivated tulips.

1914-1915
First 'Classified List of Tulip Names'. Included in how the flowers were arranged were: flowering period, shape and the degree of 'bloembreking' (the striping and splashing of colours within the flower).

1928
Establishment of the Hortus Bulborum.

1943
First professional publication about viruses which affect tulips, complete with clinical pictures.

1943
As a result of crossing, D.W.Lefeber develops enormous red tulips which are known as Darwin Hybrids. The most famous one is 'Apeldoorn'.

1960
A trip by carriage from Turkey to the Netherlands to commemorate the existence of tulips in western Europe for 400 years.

1977
Introduction of 'ice tulips' tulips held in sustained coolness to delay forcing beyond normal time period to extend the availability of cut tulip flowers into 'down months' when they were previously not available.
 
 
     
It is not only the tulip's past which is beset with stories and tales, that are by no means always based on truth however. Every bulbous plant has its own myths.
Evidently, these beautiful flowers with their frequently exotic colours evoke visions of faraway places, long-ago times and romantic tales.

We will tell you 5 myths about 5 flower bulbs:

    
Hyacinth-
mania Revenge on Narcissus Crown
imperial Symbol
of purity Tulips in art
as well

 
 
     
  Hyacinth-mania

 
The name for this lovely bulb flower comes from Greek mythology. Hyacinthus was the name of a handsome athlete who was loved by Apollo. To Apollo's dismay, Hyacinthus was mortally wounded by a discus hurled during contest. From the blood of Hyacinthus arose the flowers that were later called hyacinths.
  
     
  The hyacinth is also the flower that proves that the tulip was not the only subject of mass hysteria. In the early 17th century, tulip bulbs were of almost priceless value. "Tulipmania" even reached such heights that an entire canal side property in Amsterdam was traded for just one tulip bulb!

What happened with the hyacinth was not less spectacular indeed, although this is hardly known. In the middle of the 18th century, Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of the French king Louis XV, decided that the gardens of Versailles should be embellished with Dutch hyacinths. Of course, the French elite could not be outdone: "hyacinth-mania", an enormous craze in hyacinth bulbs, was a fact. Though they never got traded for castles.
   
  
 
     
  The Revenge on Narcissus

The universally known narcissus also has a name that dates from Greek antiquity. And a haze of mythological stories hovers around this pretty flower, too. The story goes that Narcissus was a handsome young man who would stay youthful and attractive forever, if only he would not see his own face. If he looked at himself, he would die.

Narcissus was immune to the love of a woman. Even the infatuated nymph Echo, did not succeed in getting him to fall in love with her. And there were more girls whom Narcissus spurned.

One day, the rejected girls decided to no longer accept this. They asked the goddess Nemesis to take revenge. Nemesis was willing to cooperate in the revenge. She convinced Narcissus to come to a spring in search of refreshment after a hunting party. Tired from his travels, Narcissus wanted to refresh himself in the clear, unruffled water. But in the water he saw his own face reflected. For the first time in his life he fell in love - with himself. Slowly but surely he pined away.

When people looked for his body after a while, it seemed to have disappeared. But right on the spot where his body lay, a beautiful, delightfully scented flower had appeared - the narcissus.
  
     
   
     
  The Crown Imperial: The Blush of Shame

he official name for the Crown Imperial is Fritillaria Imperialis. Large yellow or red flowers hang like a wreath of bells from the stem of this striking bulbous plant. Those flowers do not hang without reason however. According to a legend, all flowers bowed in respect toward Jesus when he was on his way to Golgotha - all the flowers except for one. This one, the crown imperial, remained proudly (and a trifle arrogantly) upright. But when Jesus looked at the flower, it blushed with shame. Then, the flower humbly bowed its head. The sparkling drops of nectar that appear at the base of each flower are the tears that the flower has shed ever since that time. These tears are so big that they fall from the flowers when you touch the stem.
 
     
  
     
  Symbol of Purity

onsider the lily. This bulbous plant also has a flowery history. Century-old paintings of lilies have been found on the island of Crete. This time period has later been indicated as the time of the Minoan civilization. For the Assyrians, the lily was a holy flower. These same Assyrians used lilies for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Crushed lily bulbs would cure infections, and the flower petals were mixed with honey to remove facial wrinkles.

According to a Greek legend, the lily was created from drops of milk that the Goddess Hera spilled while feeding her child Hercules. In the Middle Ages, the lily was considered a symbol of purity. The white lily still holds this symbolic meaning in religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.
 
 
     
  Tulips, in Art as well

t is only natural that the tulip has thoroughly permeated the work of artists. We come across this phenomenon as early as the seventeenth century in such paintings as those by Judith Leyster. She was a student of Frans Hals, and was almost as famous as that resident of Haarlem. Magnificent tulip books were also produced, full of brilliant illustrations of lovely tulips. Nowadays, these books are rare and extremely valuable.

Dating from this same century are the first tulip vases, special vases intended for the precious tulips. In those days, of course, people did not just buy a bunch of tulips simply to put them in a vase: the flowers were far too expensive and unique for that. You had to show them off! People who could afford these pretty flowers usually also had the financial means to have vases made for them especially. The result was often an exceptionally lovely example of applied art. Each individual tulip had its own separate little tube in order to emphasis the beauty of every single flower. In most cases the patterns on these tulip vases were of the typically Dutch, delft blue variety.
  
     
 
   
  
  
 Rambling romp through tulip history

In history, the Dutch will be remembered for their passion for tulips. After 400-plus years, theirs is an enduring love affair. First introduced to Holland in 1593, the tulip has become a symbol for the country. Ask anyone, anywhere to name things that are "definitely Dutch" and the answer is going to include tulips, windmills and wooden shoes, usually in that order.

The Tulip Business

Bulb-growing areas of Holland
Since the 1600s, tulip growing has been a major crop for this flat low country situated just off the North Sea in Northern Europe. Today nearly half of Holland's 47,150 acres of flower bulb farms are planted with tulip bulbs (23,412 acres). Other bulbs ranking highest in acreage (but far below the tulip) are lilies, gladioli, narcissi and hyacinth (in that order).

Every year about three billion tulip bulbs are produced in Holland Of these, approximately two billion are exported and one billion remain in the Netherlands. The vast majority of them are used for "forcing" of cut flowers and potted plants.

The United States is the top importer of tulip bulbs, followed closely by Japan and Germany. Nearly one billion bulbs go to the USA — most to home gardeners — and once again, tulips take up the greatest share.

Where Tulips Come From

it is a widely-spread misconception that tulips and other bulb flowers are native to Holland, growing wild in remote areas still. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost no bulbous plants are native to this part of the world.

Central Asia-
where most tulips come from
For the origins of the tulip, we look to central Asia. This is site of their prime genetic center in the Tien-Shan and the Pamir Alai Mountain Ranges near modern day Islamabad, close to the border of Russia and China. From these areas, tulips spread to other regions including China and Mongolia to the east and to other regions to the west and northwest. A secondary genetic center developed in Azerbaijan and Armenia (Transcaucasia). From this area, tulips spread to locations which included far-flung parts of Europe. They are still encountered today growing wild in regions of the Balkans, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and France. In nature there are probably no more than one hundred and fifty tulip species native to Europe. But that number depends largely on how one defines "wild species".

Tulipa celsiana
is native to southern France
One of these tulips, Tulipa celsiana, is found wild in southern France in the region around Toulon and Cannes. This miniature tulip grows there between the rocks, under extremely dry conditions. It is visible only for a short growth and flowering period in the early spring. Flowering is quickly followed by withering, and the plant then survives as small bulbs that not only serve to help it survive the winter but the summer as well.

In any event, the advance of the tulip in nature never got so far that it reached the Netherlands, not even within 500 miles.

Tulips Call Mountains "Home"

The tulip's natural habitat is mountainous
 
The tulip's natural habitat is made up of mountainous regions. They are found growing there at very high elevations in the mountains, which means that they are often covered with a thick layer of snow during the winter period. This offers them good protection from the severe cold. In quite a few of these species the inner side of the skin that covers the bulb is covered with a thick hairy layer that provides extra protection. Not surprisingly these types are often called "wooly tulips."

Given this natural proclivity for high places, it is all the more remarkable that the Dutch should become known for growing tulips when their country is largely situated below sea-level and "enjoys" winters that are more wet than they are cold. Since these are not conditions that make tulips happy, the Dutch have invented systems that provide winter soil drainage. All through the sandy coastal bulb growing regions one sees farm fields ringed by drainage ditches that draw surplus water quickly from the fields. From the ditches the water flowers to canals that flow to the sea. With a country below sea-level, it is not unusual to see water canals flowing through embankments that tower above the surrounding fields.

The Role Played by Turkey

Today most people (even in the Netherlands) still say that tulips originally came from Turkey and that is where their natural habitat is. But this is only partly true. A significant percentage of the tulips cultivated in the Netherlands originated from areas now considered part of Russia, around the Black Sea, in the Crimea, and from the steppes located north of the Caucasus. However in the 1500s when the tulips were first introduced into Europe, these areas belonged to what was called the great Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turkish Empire or Persia. It is known that the Turks were cultivating tulips as early as 1,000 AD. Before tulips ever reached Europe, they had enjoyed a long and rich cultural history in Persia.

The Development of the Name "Tulip"

The most obvious explanation for how the tulip got its name was its resemblance to the headgear worn by many people in the Middle East, such as the Persians — the turban, that was also written as "toliban". Changed into Latin, this became "tulipa". With a little imagination, the flowers of some tulips do look like a turban. The actual origin of the word is unknown.

Tulipa bononiensis

FYI: As the tulip became known to select European botanists in the 1500s, gorgeous illustrations of tulips were being made, including the fabulous Tulipa bononiensis. What is strange is that these illustrations is that they always included some kind of butterfly, but butterflies seldom if ever land on tulip flowers.

Equally odd, the famous flamed (virused) tulips that came to be known as "Rembrandt tulips" were not a favored subject of the painter, who rarely painted floral's. Rather, the name of Rembrandt was applied for its historical timeframe, as Tulipomania occurred during the first half of the seventeenth century when the artists who become known as the Dutch Masters (artists including Rembrandt, Frans Halls, Breughel, and other famous Dutch artists of the era) were most active.

Four Hundred Years of Tulips

Carolus Clusius

Dutch tulip history traditionally begins in 1593 when botanist Carolus Clusius, who had been known for his work in Prague and Vienna with medicinal herbs, came to Leiden in Holland to become head botanist of the new botanical garden or "hortus" at the University of Leiden. It was he who planted the first known tulips in Holland, assisted by Cluyt, a skilled botanist and pharmacist in the old town of Delft, located south of The Hague.

FYI: Recently research reveals that Cluyt played a greater role in Leiden's Hortus than was previously assumed. He was also a famous bee-keeper and one of the first Dutchmen to publish a book about bee-keeping. His book took the form of a morning dialogue with Clusius and was entitled "God Feeds All Creatures".

Who was Clusius?

Carolus Clusius, who lived from 1526 to 1609, was a renowned botanist in his time. Among his other activities, he was engaged at the Imperial Medicinal Herb Garden in Prague. There, and in Vienna, he cultivated all kinds of plants. Among these plants were the tulips that were given to him be a man named De Busbecq who lived from 1522 to 1592. De Busbecq was the ambassador to the court of Sultan Suleiman in Constantinople, the seat of the Ottoman Empire. While there, De Busbecq encountered tulips and was the first Westerner to mention their existence in known writings from the day.

Clusius left Vienna in 1593 to go to the Netherlands, a country more tolerant of his Protestant religious beliefs. (Because of his beliefs, he could no longer function in his job in Prague and Vienna.) He was appointed in 1593 as "hortulanus" or head botanist of Leiden's Hortus, the first botanical garden in western Europe. He brought part of his collection, including his tulips, along with him. He planted them behind a university building in a garden that was still very small in those days; it measured only twelve hundred square meters.

The Start of an Epoch

Clusius seems to have looked at the value of tulip bulbs strictly in terms of a scientific perspective. He was also very stingy with them and refused to give bulbs away or even to sell them.

However, there were some folks who saw the possibility of making money with the bulbs and they wanted to get their hands on some to cultivate and sell them. But Clusius remained inflexible. He wouldn't give up any.

Unfortunately some people can't take no for an answer — in any century. Several frustrated bulb buyers conspired to pay an unannounced visit to the garden — and stole part of Clusius' collection (a collection that probably wasn't very big). And that was in all probability the start of the Dutch tulip industry. As a result of a burglary, and aided by typical Dutch instinct for horticulture and business, the Dutch passion for tulips become has become a "flower force" felt worldwide.

In the early 1990s, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the tulip in Holland, the curators of the Leiden botanical garden unveiled a recreation of Clusius' original garden (at two thirds its original size) in another location within the Hortus. The garden is laid out according to historic plans with the tulips grown by Clusius, as well as other plants from Clusius' time, too - including plants then recently discovered in the New World such as the potato, tomato, corn, tagetes and the tobacco plant.

Soon after Clusius' arrival in Leiden, the first books documenting all kinds of known plants came into existence. What is striking is that it was the tulip that was often illustrated, even on the covers. This is curious because, in the 1500s and 1600s, botanists considered plants that could be eaten or used as medicines of most importance. And the tulip did not fall into either category.

Those Very Early Tulips

There has been a lot of discussion - and, yes, it's still going on, too - about which tulip species were the first ones to be planted in Leiden. It is generally assumed that not all were actual wild species. That is because it is known that the Turks were already crossing and selecting (hybridizing) tulips at least as early as the time of Sultan Suleiman who lived from 1494 until 1566.

It is highly possible that some of these Turkish cultivars (hybridized tulips) were present in Clusius' collection. In fact Tulipa 'Duc van Tol Red and Yellow' is considered to have been an early predecessor of many of the tulips we know today. T. 'Lac van Rijn' is another of the very old varieties.

Tulipomania

The Dutch cultivation of tulips began, slowly but surely in the 1600s, in very small private plots. Cultivation took place mainly in the area between the North Sea and Amsterdam in the region bounded by the prosperous cities of Leiden and Haarlem. This region is still called the "Bollenstreek" or the bulb-growing region. People living in this area have soil available to them that is called "geestgrond". This is a Dutch word that describes the soil lying behind the Dutch dunes which, in fact, consists of coarse-grained sandy soil.

At first the tulip was a rarity that only the very wealthy could afford. So rare and so beautiful were they that the rich clamored to have them. Tulips became a status symbol — and wealthy Dutch and European aristocrats and newly-wealthy merchant classes had to have them! A buying mania evolved.

Tulipa 'Semper Augustus' 
By 1624 things had progressed to  such a craze that one tulip, the renowned white and maroon "Rembrandt-type" tulip 'Semper Augustus', could command a price as high as 3,000 guilders per bulb — with only 12 bulbs available for sale! The equivalent of $1,500 U.S. today. Just a short time later, a similar bulb fetched a whopping 4,500 guilders ($2,250 U.S.), plus a horse and carriage.

Today's civic tulips beds with thousands of bulbs planted en masse would have astounded tulip growers back then who planted individual bulbs as specimens in the "renaissance style" gardens of the day, with formal parks surrounded by hedges. The most expensive flowers were the Rembrandt-type or bi-colors with distinctive flames or broken stripes of color, each one unique in its patterns. Solid-colored tulips were not fashionable at all.

FYI: Today we know that the original "broken stripe" tulips were infected with a devastating virus, such bulbs are not allowed in cultivation today. Instead genetically-stable flamed "look-a-likes" (hybrids that duplicate the famous bi-color, broken stripe look) are available and continue to be extremely popular. Favorites include red-and-yellow 'Keizerkroon' (introduced in 1750), red-and-white 'Cordell Hull' (1933) and maroon-and-white 'Vlammenspel' (1941).

The Tulip Crash of 1637

The Puritans were quick to oppose the pernicious collecting mania and the craving for foolish speculation of these "florists" or "blommists", as they were known. Nevertheless, the "tulip disease" continued to spread. This craziness reached its zenith in the years 1634 to 1637, in the period known as "The Foolish Tulip Trade", "The Wild Tulip Speculation", or "Tulipomania".

This period is often compared to the modern day Stock Market Craze worldwide of the 1920s — and it is easy to see why. Buying and selling tulips became not just a hobby for the very rich, but an activity for all kinds of craftsmen as well. By the 1620s tulips were being sold by the bulb, but in 1634, people switched over to selling rare varieties by weight. It's not so surprising that people chose the grain (weighing four point eight centigrams) as the unit of measure. This was the same unit of measure used by goldsmiths.

Although the story is not really clear - there appear to have been tulips that were sold for up to 3,000 guilders per bulb. To give an idea of what this sum could buy at the time: two loads of wheat, , four loads of rye, four fat oxen, five swine, 12 sheep, two hogsheads of wine, four barrels of beer, two barrels of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese, one complete bed, one suit of clothes, one silver tankard and a sizeable wagon to haul it all away!

A notarized bill of sale was issued for many of these transactions. It is also certain that some tulips that were traded never even existed. This could happen because people could only supply actual bulbs during the period from July through November, when they were out of the ground. During the rest of the year, except for the flowering period, the plant was below the soil surface. Therefore the Dutch term "windhandel," meaning "wind trading" was an apt term.

Obviously many cartoonists of this period created funny drawings ridiculing those involved in the Wind Trade, which today seems a folly not unlike that depicted in Hans Christian Anderson's "The Emperor's New Clothes."

One very famous cartoon was entitled "Flora's Mallewagen." This engraving, dating from 1637, was jam-packed with the faces of people of the day who had parted with fortunes in exchange for tulip bulbs. There is also an interesting painting by Jan Breughel, an artist who lived from 1601 to 1678, which depicts monkeys engaged in the day-to-day activity of tulip traders. Here too the feasting and tippling habits of the "florists" was denounced, with monkeys shown acting like, well, asses. Another example was an engraving by Pieter Nolpe who depicted the tulip speculation as a giant fool's cap.

In 1637 the tulip trading crashed. People who thought of themselves as extremely rich were reduced to poverty overnight.

In spite of the uproar and the difficulties that accompanied the wild speculation in tulips, the tulip continued to be the most popular garden flower for a very long time. Tulips had become associated with the Netherlands. The lasting Dutch fascination with tulips — and enduring Dutch flower industry — owes at least part of its development to Tulipomania.
 
Tulips from the days of tulipmania

Old-Time Tulips to Plant this Fall
Tulips have a long and glamorous past. Today many will be surprised to learn that they can plant some of the same elegant flowers that inspired "Tulipomania" and graced the paintings of the Dutch Masters in their own gardens this fall.

Following is a list of "time-traveling tulips" compiled by the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center in New York City. All were introduced in the years between 1593 (when tulips first arrived in Holland) and the year 1750. All are readily available today from various garden centers, mail-order catalogues, home centers and many supermarkets. Some are identical to their ancestors, some are "look-a-likes" that replicate historical varieties.

Time-Traveling Tulips to Plant this Fall:

Tulipa tarda, 1590s. Looking just as Mother Nature introduced her, this multi-flowering botanical tulip has chrome yellow petals edged in bright white. The stunning, star-shaped blossoms open late in the season on sturdy six-inch stems. A fabulous performer that tops the list of natural "perennializers," T. tarda is native to Turkestan.

'Keizerkroon', 1750. With its distinctive red-edged-in-yellow flowers and lovely scent, this old-timer has earned a spot among the all-time great garden tulips. A Single Early Tulip, 13-inches tall.

Rembrandt Tulips, 1610. These are the famous mottled or "broken"-color tulips that launched the frenzy of trading that culminated in the near collapse of the Dutch economy in 1637. The period became known as "Tulipomania," the tulips themselves as "Rembrandts." The Rembrandt appellation stemmed from the abundance of tulips in famous Dutch Master paintings associated with the era, a period which became known as the Golden Age of Dutch Painting. Curiously, tulips were not a prominent theme in Rembrandt's own work.

The broken colors in Rembrandt tulips were spectacular, no two were alike. Later it was learned that a plant virus was behind these lovely unpredictable complexions. Today actual Rembrandt tulips are no longer available (they're illegal), but Dutch hybridizers have bred exquisite "look-a-like" flowers that recall the Rembrandt look. The distinguishing feature: a light color tulip with deep red, purple or oxblood colored stripes or "flames."

20th Century Rembrandt cultivars include: 'Union Jack', 'Cordell Hull', 'Shirley', 'Sorbet'.

Tulipa clusiana, 1802. While the actual red-and-white-striped species tulip T. clusiana is no longer commercially available, its new "identical cousin" is! Red-and-light yellow striped T. clusiana 'Cynthia' (1959) happily recalls the look of the original with its jolly stripes and narrow silhouette that fans out to a star-shape when fully open. Known also as Peppermint Stick or Candlestick, this perennial performer readily naturalizes (comes back year after year). A hybrid, six-inches tall.