His expertise in the cultivation of tulips in the Roman emperor’s garden in Vienna brought him to the attention of The Dutch Botanical Gardens. His publications of a number of books and articles on the bulbs and flowers led to what was to become known as ‘Tulipmania’. This was the rage of the 1600s so much so that botanists were in high demand in palaces, manor houses, universities, and noble residences. Tulips grew (pardon the pun) to become more valuable than gold and 10 times more than a commoner’s annual wage. A strain of tulip started to appear, this was red with distinctive white streaks on the petals. It wasn’t known for centuries afterwards that in fact this was a virus that was causing an infection in the petals. The virus was ‘Tulip Breaking Virus’ known today as TBV. The demand for tulip bulbs steadily increased from the start of the 1600s. As word spread the value increased and more people wanted to get involved. The demand in 1636 skyrocketed, some varieties like the ‘Semper Augustus’ were costing $10,000 guilders, the price of a house in Amsterdam. The craze lasted one year and in what today would be classed as a ‘Boom to Bust’ no one could afford the astronomical prices. The demand fell or people got a grip of themselves. 

The Netherlands today is the largest exporter of tulips worldwide, that figure is 2 billion annually, 77% of all flower bulbs come from the Netherlands and seedlings account for $3.8 billion in exports. The country is remarkably flat with the highest elevation of only 70 meters. As a result it has a very favourable climate, fertile soil and innovative greenhouse technology that contributes to its tremendous production capacity. 

The Flower Shop of the World. Keukenhof Tulip Gardens.

The flower park consists of 32 hectares of gardens, (that’s 80 acres approximately), water features, pathways and flowers of every description imaginable. Every year 7 million flower bulbs are planted by hand in the autumn, to flower in the spring. The method of planting is unique. For a colourful garden to stay pretty for 8 weeks you have to have different species of flowers maturing every few weeks, hearing the methods of sowing is a 3 year course in horticulture, in one day. 800 different varieties of tulips are on display. Known as the ‘Garden of Europe,’ it’s one of the world’s largest flower gardens. While tulips are the dominant flower you’ll see hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, irises and carnations. The garden festival starts the third week of March and continues for 8 weeks ending on the third week of May. There are roughly about 25,000 visitors a day during the festival but when you consider the size of the park it’s a very comfortable venue even with that volume of people.

The Keukenhof estate dates back to the 15th century. In 1640 a castle was built and records show that the estate had over 200 hectares. In 1857 the castle gardens were redesigned. In 1949, 20 of the Netherlands top growers and exporters got together and opened the estate to exhibit spring flowering bulbs. The birth of the world’s most beautiful flower and bulb exhibitions was in 1950, apart from the Covid-19 pandemic the gardens have been opened continuously since, and looking forward to celebrating 75 years of bloom and bliss in 2025.

Say it with Flowers. The language of flowers, symbols and meanings.

Red Tulips, the Romantic type, their deep red hue evokes feelings of passion, love and lust. Making them popular for new young couples.

Orange ones convey a sense of understanding and appreciation between two people in a relationship. Both are physically and spiritually connected.

If you’ve a liking for Yellow you display happiness, cheerfulness and hope. The sunshine of your smile. Plant yellow tulips in your front garden for good luck and prosperity.

Purple tulips, a sign of wealth. Queen Elizabeth I forbade everyone except the Royal Family from wearing purple.

White tulips, they are a token of sympathy, sorrow or condolences.

If you are presenting Pink tulips, you are congratulating someone for the birth of a baby, maybe on getting a job or a promotion.

Blue Tulips are the rarest of colours for these bulbs. They convey calmness and serenity. Blue is the most difficult of colours to achieve in flowers.

In the Netherlands the latest figures for 2023 is that $3.5 billion worth of fruit and vegetables were exported, with the flowers, bulbs and seedlings amounting to $11.0 billion. Agriculture, horticulture and the food sector employs 636,000 or 9% of the Dutch workforce, this includes all of the supporting industries that’s involved.

Canada and the Netherlands have close ties with each other. When WWII broke out the Dutch Royal family fled to England where they were treated as ‘the government in exile.’ In 1940 the Queen sent her heir Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana and daughters to Canada. Arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June, they later settled in Ottawa. In 1943 Princess Margriet was born to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernard. When the war ended and the Royal family returned to the Netherlands, as a show of gratitude each year 10,000 tulips are sent to Ottawa, a bed of pink and purple tulips was developed in the Civil Campus of the Ottawa Maternity Hospital where the Princess was born and another was planted in the Commissioners Park. The tulips are still sent to this day. On occasions when the Dutch government are invited to Canada it’s usually Princess Margriet who does the honours, after all she is the only royal blood to have been born here. After the D-Day landings in France on June 6th 1944 the Canadian and Allied forces moved northwards through France, Belgium and eventually the Netherlands which was liberated in April and May 1945. The Dutch people owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Canadian army and the Canadian nation. From 1947 to 1954 more than 80,000 Dutch citizens migrated to Canada, these were mostly farmers who moved to Southern Ontario and Alberta. Their ancestors are still farming here today.