Tulips: the flower that keeps moving

From the mountains of Central Asia to Amsterdam

Wild tulips grow in the mountains of Central Asia. They were prized in the Ottoman Empire long before they reached western Europe in the sixteenth century. In the Dutch Republic of the 1630s, single bulbs of rare streaked varieties changed hands for extraordinary sums until the market collapsed in 1637, an episode remembered as tulip mania. The famous streaks turned out to be caused by a virus, and modern striped tulips are bred to be stable instead.

Choosing a colour

Tulips do not carry the weight of meaning that roses do, which makes them easy to give. A rough guide:

• Red: love, but in a lighter, less formal way than a dozen red roses.
• Pink: warmth and affection; a favourite for Mothering Sunday, which falls in tulip season.
• Yellow: sunshine and friendship. The old link with hopeless love has long faded.
• White: calm and a new beginning; also used for sympathy in spring.
• Purple and near-black: dramatic and grown-up, lovely mixed with white.

Tulip types you will meet

Breeders sort tulips into groups by flower shape and flowering time. In a shop bunch you are most likely to find Triumph tulips, the neat cup-shaped standard. Others worth asking for are parrot tulips with frilled, feathered petals, double or peony-flowered tulips that look like small roses, fringed tulips with crystal-cut edges, and slim lily-flowered tulips with pointed petals.

Keeping them straight and fresh

• Cool water, not too deep. A few centimetres of cold water is enough; tulips hate warm water.
• Give them a lean. They grow towards light, so turn the vase daily or choose a tall, straight-sided vase that supports them.
• Straighten a floppy bunch. Roll it tightly in newspaper and stand it in cold water for an hour or two.
• Leave room in the vase. Tulips can add several centimetres in height after cutting.
• Forget the coin. The old trick of a copper coin in the water has no reliable proof behind it. Clean water does more.

In a cool room a good bunch lasts around a week. Daffodils make tulips droop if they share fresh water, so read our daffodil guide before mixing them. For general advice see the care tips, and for meanings, flower language.

Tulips in the garden here

Irish autumns are mild and wet, which suits a fungus called tulip fire. The usual advice is to plant bulbs late, from the end of October into November, in free-draining soil or pots. Many gardeners treat tulips as one-season bulbs and plant fresh ones each year, since they often flower poorly the second spring in our climate.