Tulips are one of the most popular flowers in our gardens. Every year, gardeners wait feverishly for the tulips to bloom. Quite a few people are also drawn to our neighbors in the Netherlands in spring to marvel at the blooming tulip fields there. But when exactly do the plants bloom? Does the heyday differ between Germany and Holland? And why are the Dutch so crazy about these flowers? Find answers to these questions here.
heyday
If you look at the flowering phase of tulips, you quickly realize that this can vary greatly from variety to variety. The flowering time of a tulip depends not only on the weather conditions, but above all on the variety. There are roughly three categories - early, middle and late tulip varieties. The time of flowering therefore depends on the category in which the respective tulip falls. However, there is no single, fixed point in time for all varieties. For longer-lasting flowering joy, the combination of the three categories when planting makes sense.
Early Tulip Varieties
The early tulip varieties open the flower dance in March of each year. Depending on the variety, they sometimes bloom well into April. Typical representatives of these early bloomers are:
- Fosteriana, which can sometimes produce flowers as early as February
- Kaufmanniana
- Tulipa praestans
- Fuselians, which can also become active in spring
Medium varieties of tulips
The medium-sized tulip varieties start flowering almost exactly when the early bloomers run out of air. This is usually the case in the second half of April. They delight the eye with their colorful calyxes until about the end of May. Typical representatives of this category are:
- Couleur Cardinal
- Darwin Tulips
- Red Impressions
Late varieties of tulips
When spring has already picked up speed and is slowly beginning to transition into summer, the time has come for the late tulip varieties. They shine with their flowers from the end of May until well into June. Late tulip varieties include:
- parrot tulips
- viridiflora
- peony tulips
- Queen of the night blooming all in black
Netherlands
The tulip originally comes from Turkey. Nevertheless, today hardly anyone would come up with the idea of connecting the country on the Bosphorus with these flowers. In fact, the Netherlands is considered to be the country of tulips par excellence. There, resourceful gardeners and merchants discovered the potential of the tulips early on. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Europe-wide tulip trade was one of the most important industries for the Dutch. The extremely long spring phase in Holland has favored cultivation to this day.
heyday Netherlands
The tulip bloom in the Netherlands attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. From around mid-April to early May, the extensive tulip fields are in full bloom and give the impression of huge, colorful seas of flowers. However, the flowering itself only plays a subordinate role as a tourist attraction. Rather, it is about the tulip bulbs in the ground that are exported all over the world. The flowers are mercilessly mowed down in the second half of May each year in order to be able to harvest as many bulbs as possible.
Tip: Read here how to plant tulips in your own garden.