Tulipmannia - The 17th century phenomenon

Contrary to popular belief tulips first sprang up in Persia and Turkey and not in regular rows of glorious colour on the bulb fields of Holland. Popular legend has it that once upon a time a Persian youth, on hearing that his sweetheart had been killed, mounted his horse and galloped clean over the edge of a cliff, he died instantly and the blood that gushed from his wounds turned into bright red tulips as it touched the ground. Thus in Persia when a young man gave a young lady a red tulip he was really saying, "I am on fire with love as the fiery red of this flower and my heart is burnt to coal as black as its center."

Indeed the tulip has always symbolized love, life and death in past centuries particularly around the time of Tulipmania in Holland when one tulip bulb, Semper Augustus, was quoted at a price of 13,000 florins, more than the cost the most expensive houses on the canals at the centre of Amsterdam!

Tulips arrived in Holland around 1575 when the botanist Carolus Clusius became curator of The Hortus botanical gardens in Leiden - still open to the public today - and planted some seedlings in the sandy soil of the gardens and was thrilled with the results. Unfortunately for Clusius the bulbs were stolen and sold. The tulip trade in Holland never looked back. As some consolation the tulip clusiana, now very scarce in its true form, was named after him.

[Photo: Species Tulip: clusiana Cynthia - 0697]

In Holland the tulip became more than a flower, it became a status symbol of the wealthy, an investment and ultimately a gamble. By 1634 Tulipmania had gripped the country. People sold businesses, their homes and all they had to invest in tulip bulbs. Tulips were bought and sold on promissory notes often without the participants ever seeing the bulbs. The market inevitably crashed. Much the same as during the Great Depression peoples lives were ruined, in fact many died for the love of a Tulip.

At the time of Tulipmania the 'Rembrandt' or 'broken tulips' were the most coveted bulbs. Today, despite an international tulip registry of over 4,000 varieties the only place these tulips can be seen is at the botanical Keukenhof Gardens or the museum at Limmen. Amongst the small private collections the bulbs still change hands at over £125 ($200) each.

[Photo: May Flowering Tulip: World Expression - 0453]

Today of course we still have a wonderful selection of striped tulips but the beautiful markings of the Rembrandt tulips were caused by a viral disease and are no longer commercially grown. Beware of seeing Rembrandt tulips offered by commercial nurseries and retail outlets. Included in our catalogues there are still enough splashy Matisses and Renoirs to ease the pain over the loss of the Rembrandts. Spending time every Spring marveling at the intense colour and exquisite variety that tulips bring is a reminder of why we all still suffer from a touch of madness, a touch of tulipmania.