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NATURE’S BEAUTY:
Tulips
&
35
Did you know tulips
are edible? When
Germany occupied
the Netherlands
during World
War II, starving
people were
reduced to eating
tulip bulbs.
FLAMBOYANT FLOWERS STILL INSPIRE MANIA IN GROWERS AND ADMIRERS
By Tanya J. Tyler,
Staff Writer
It’s a sure sign of
spring’s arrival when
you see tulips popping up in gardens.
These beautiful flowers come in
a wealth of bright, cheery colors,
including red, yellow and purple.
The name “tulip” is derived from
the Persian word for turban; Persia
is where tulips were first cultivated
around the 10th century. Ogier
de Busbecq, who was an ambassador to Turkey in the court of
Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I,
is generally considered to be the
person who introduced the tulip to
Europe. He sent bulbs to Vienna
in 1554 from the Ottoman Empire.
Today tulips are closely associated
with the Netherlands, which is still
a major grower of the flamboyant
flowers. Tulips first came to the
United States in the 1800s.
It was in the Netherlands that a
phenomenon called Tulip Mania
occurred. When botanist Carolus
Clusius wrote the first major book
about tulips in 1592, the flowers
became so popular that Clusius’
garden was raided and his bulbs
stolen. Prices for single tulip bulbs
reached amazingly high levels in
the 17th century. But just as sud-
denly as it began, Tulip Mania
ended, and many investors were
ruined.
It normally takes from seven to
12 years for a flowering tulip bulb
to grow a seed, but it’s certainly
worth the wait. Tulips bloom in
April and May and then lie dormant from June to September.
They require well-drained si ѕ́