The introduction of the tulip to Europe is usually attributed to Ogier de Busbecq, the ambassador of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor to the Sultan of Turkey, who sent the first tulip bulbs and seeds to Vienna in 1554 from the Ottoman Empire. Tulip bulbs were soon distributed from Vienna to Augsburg, Antwerp and Amsterdam.Its popularity and cultivation in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) is generally thought to have started in earnest around 1593 after the Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius had taken up a post at the University of Leiden and established the hortus academicus. He planted his collection of tulip bulbs and found they were able to tolerate the harsher conditions of the Low Countries;[shortly thereafter the tulip began to grow in popularity
I love tulips. There is something about them that is so endearing. The way they “dance” is so fun and flirty. Never staying still, they constantly move around searching for light. Their blooms open wide in the day and close up at night. Not even content with their cut length, they continue to stretch and grow. Elongating stems extend further and further as their days in the vase move forward. Sometimes a frustration for floral designers, these animated blooms definitely “do their own thing.”
Many are bothered by the “stretching” nature of the tulip. They grow out of their bouquets and often their vases as well. It can be frustrating to arrange your flowers and then come back the next day to tulips that grow away from the other flowers, or if alone in the vase have extended past and even drooping over the container that holds them. It’s like containing a wild animal; they just don’t listen and want to be free.
Try cutting the tulips a little shorter than you normally would, tuck them further down in the bouquet when you arrange them or if the arrangement will be all tulips, try a little taller than normal vase to allow for the “stretch.”
Tulips are very alive even after they are cut. Let them do their thing and you will enjoy them so much more than trying to keep them controlled. Irregular and unusual shaped vases are great vessels for tulips as they create a “playground” for our energetic tulips. This can add a fun and funky flair to a party. What a great conversation piece!
Photo Courtesy: Carol Caggiano, AIFD, PFCI
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