Lily-Flowered Tulips Mixed Colours! – 7 Bulbs

The tulip is one of the most beautiful and widespread ornamental flowers. It's a flowering plant usually grown from bulbs. The flowers are large and striking, in vivid colours, usually red, yellow or white. Depending on the type, tulips range in height from 10 cm to around 70 cm. 

In the language of flowers, the tulip symbolises eternal love, joy, kindness, compassion, luck, elegance and grace. Each colour has a different meaning: for example, white tulips stand for forgiveness and red tulips for eternal love.

There are many legends about the tulip, but the best known is that of the Persian prince Farhad and his beloved Shirin. When Farhad believed Shirin had died, he took his own life by riding his horse off a cliff. Where his blood was spilled, tulips grew, and ever since they have symbolised eternal love.

Although the Netherlands is considered "the land of tulips" – and rightly so, as it produces the most tulips every year – the plant originally comes from Asia. Tulip bulbs reached Europe from the Ottoman Empire, and the plant is native to Central Asia, in mountains such as the Tien Shan and the Pamir. Its origins may also explain its name: although not proven, the word "tulip" seems to come from a word meaning turban, which the flower resembles in shape when fully open.

Carolus Clusius was largely responsible for spreading the tulip in the last years of the sixteenth century. He planted tulips in the imperial botanical gardens in Vienna in 1573. After he was appointed director of the botanical garden of Leiden University, he planted a teaching garden and a private garden that included tulips. These tulips led to the famous "tulip mania" and the creation of the Dutch tulip industry!

There are thousands of tulip species and varieties, classified into many different groups. They are usually divided into three main groups: 1) early varieties that flower in March-April, 2) mid-season varieties that flower in April-May, and 3) late varieties that flower in May.

In Greece, tulips are easy and rewarding to grow, and several wild species grow here – some of them found nowhere else in the world!

For best results, combine with one of our fertilisers (use once a month after the first month from planting).