The Ottoman sultans wore a tulip in their turbans as a sign of wealth and power. In fact the Persian word tulipan means turban. The tulip became popular in the Netherlands in the 1600’s. In fact, the popularity drove the price so high in that time period that one bulb equaled the price of an expensive Amsterdam home along the canal.

The history of tulips is interesting. One surprising thing was a tulip virus caused the prized pure red tulip to have white in it. This became extremely expensive because it was different and everyone wanted it. You’ll notice in the picture I have red and yellow tulips and then the variegated ones. I have difficulty keeping any pure colors. The purple have stayed pure. That’s because they represent royalty I guess!

The tulip craze was astonishing. Some very wealthy people went broke because of their need to buy more and more tulip bulbs. It is believed that the bubonic plague may have influenced the ending of the craze. I would think so!

There are 3000 varieties of tulips. One woman wrote she has 2000 in her garden. Like the rose, the red tulip is the most popular color and it also represents love. Blue tulips have been the most challenging to cultivate. They still don’t have a pure blue, but are close. They are said to represent tranquility and peace. I am mentally sending you bouquets of tulips in all colors and hope you can all get outside to enjoy them before they are gone!