Tulips



Tulips

The tulips name comes from the Turkish tulbend, "turban", which the flower is said to resemble. In the 16th century tulips reached the Austrian court and were much admired and propagated, becoming so popular in Holland by the early 17th century that an extravagant bulb trade developed. At the peak of tulip-mania in March 1637, a single tulip bulb sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. The buying and selling of tulips in the 17th century occurred on the stock-exchange just as we do today, they even had a futures market!  By 1636 the tulip bulb became the 4th leading export product of the Netherlands. It was big business. But like all good things, the economic bubble went pop and the market collapsed.   Today the Dutch export 1.2 billion bulbs annually. 

In Persia, the tulip was an emblem of perfect love or a declaration of love. 

These photos were all taken at a local flower exhibition where 1000's of tulips and other bulbs are earlier in the year and by mid September they are looking glorious in all their colour.  

Did you know that tulips belong to the same family as lilies and related to the onion (just much prettier and not as smelly).  There is around 150 species and 3,000 varieties of tulips. 
The most popular tulip is the red tulip (ssshh, don't tell this yellow tulip, she will feel sad!).  Yellow tulips means "there's sunshine in your smile" (that's nice)  
Tulips are edible -  the petals.  During the WW2 the Dutch were forced to eat tulips because they had no other food. Parts of the bulb are poisonous.  Here is a recipe for "Strawberry Mousse in Tulip Cups: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dessertrecipes/r/bldes173.htm
Purple tulips symbolize royalty and pink tulips mean affection and caring, whilst orange means energy, enthusiasm, desire and passion.


Here is another tulip petal recipe - Organic Tulip Salad

Not quite open yet

All photography is by Joluise

Comments

  1. What beautiful photos and found all this info very interesting I love tulips although they dont last long but they are beautiful.x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was really surprised that you could eat the flowers (not that I would try!!) I love tulips but don't tend to plant them in my garden.

      Delete
  2. And there´s one more thing about tulips: They summarize the glorious gospel of God´s grace!
    Total depravity of human condition.
    Unconditional election of the saints.
    Limited atonement - not one drop of Jesus blood was wasted.
    Irresistible grace.
    Preservation of the saints. Glorious!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love tulips - the red at the top and the yellow are great, but pink ones are probably my favs! It is years since I last went to a tulip festival - maybe one day in the future I can go to one again! I doubt very much they would grow here, so don't have that option...
    love,
    Bets

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tulips are lovely flowers. Your photos are beautiful! :-)

    I have to say that it didn't feel much like spring in Queensland due to the lack of things I associate with spring. In that tropical-like climate it looked and felt more like summer to me. :-)

    I read a book awhile back about the Tulip mania in Holland. It was quite amazing - and instructional!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Queensland doesn't have spring like we do in the south - too warm and as you say tropical. Climate in the south is cooler with the more traditional 4 seasons. I think we both read the same book, I leant it to my dad who found it fascinating.

      Delete
  5. The tulips are very beautiful - and your photos are gorgeous, as usual. :) I tried growing tulips in Picton where we got plenty of frost, but they still wouldn't flower in the spring. I guess they are a little fussy (or I'm a terribly tulip-grower - one or the other!).
    Spring comes earlier here than in other areas. Even though it is different from other parts of the country, living here I can certainly see the difference in the flora during spring. But yes, we have a year-round growing season, so it's not as noticeable as in other climates. There's an advantage to that - like growing tomatoes out in the open in the middle of the winter!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My dad can grew tulips in the Adelaide Hills which doesn't get as cold as here (or Picton) - you do need to keep the bulbs in the fridge for a few weeks before planting. I don't bother with them as you need to dig them up at the end of the season and store them until the next season - that sounds like hard work to me!! I prefer the ones you put in the ground and forget about them such as daffodils and jonquils.

      Delete

Post a Comment