March has got to be the optimum month to enjoy the full range of tulips and of course we naturally think of tulips from Amsterdam.
The rise of the tulip probably all started in Holland with “tulip mania” in the mid 1600’s. A time when the Dutch love affair with tulips pushed the price of tulip bulbs up beyond compare. Resulting later, in the famous crash as the bubble inevitably burst.
Today, the Netherlands is the world’s largest producer of tulip bulbs, nationally yielding somewhere in the region of 4 billion bulbs each year. Approximately half this quantity is used for commercially cut tulips covering almost 200 different varieties with more being added every year!
A full selection of variety is available now at the flower market to choose from. Popular tulip types include single and double
Aladdin and fringed
parrot and lily flower
If you are planning a spring wedding. Try co-ordinating fabulous branches of delicate blossom together with masses of tulips truly evoke the season. It’s great to use nature as inspiration and plants that flower at the same time invariably sit well together in designs.
Tulips work particularly well as table centre decorations. The great thing about tulips is that you can either mix all the colours together to create a spring-time medley or you can keep them tonal if you prefer.
As the Tulip is a very thirsty flower, it is best arranged in water, but makes an ideal flower to use for table decorations.
It’s great to work with them by adding them to vintage style jugs, making up en-masse baskets or using them to swirl around a contemporary style goldfish bowl. It definitely makes them a flower for all styles. Add together the huge colour range and the possibilities are endless.
You might also like to consider tulips as a bride or bridesmaid bouquet. The colour range of tulips is the best bit here as there are so many to choose from, working a colour scheme to compliment bridesmaid dresses isn’t usually a problem.
Then of course there is also the French tulip. French tulips differ particularly from Dutch tulips because of their stem length. This variety of tulip is beautifully long-stemmed and has quite a large flower head. It is especially suited to large key vase displays.
The key point to remember when arranging any type of tulip, is that even though it is a cut flower it still continues to grow. So, if you are preparing table decorations or a bridal bouquet be aware that the next day the flower stems will have lengthened and your design proportions may have changed!
Thanks to: Herrick District Library http://herrickdl.org
Jesse Colombo @ The Bubble Bubble http://thebubblebubble.com/tulip-mania