Monday, April 2, 2012

I want to start with a tulip...*

In the sixteenth century the first tulip was imported to Turkey from Holland. I know-- I carried it myself.
By 1634 the Dutch were so crazy for this fish-mouthed flower that one collector exchanged a thousand pounds of cheese, four oxen, eight pigs, twelve sheep, a bed and a suit of clothes for a single bulb.

What's so special about a tulip?

Put it this way...


When is a tulip not a tulip?








 When it's a Parrot or a Bizarre. When it's variegated or dwarf. When it comes called Beauty's Reward or Heart's Reviver. When it comes called Key of Pleasure or Lover's Dream...

Tulips, every one-- and hundreds more-- each distinctively different, all the same. The attribute of variation that humans and tulips share.

It was Key of Pleasure and Lover's Dream that I carried from Sulyman the Magnificent to Leiden in 1591. To be exact, I strapped them under my trousers...  
*(An excerpt from Jeanette Winterson's The Powerbook...)

16 comments:

  1. I had some Pink Angeliques one spring. They were stunning.

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    1. I know absolutely nothing about tulips but I am coming to appreciate them more... they're really a beacon of spring and of course I love spring and summer!

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  2. What a stunning array of tulips.... My favorite ... the French tulip. So beautiful. Thanks for sharing spring and the history of this amazing flower to us Danette.

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    1. So glad you enjoyed them Michael! It's such a wonderful part of this season... watching flowers spring out of the ground and the trees bursting into green!

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  3. OH, tulips that grow in gardens are just so beautiful! Your pictures are lovely.

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    1. Thanks! We've seen an amazing array of tulips this year.

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  4. Replies
    1. They are beautiful. Some are just stunning! I was on a website looking over some of them and it's amazing how many types there are. I would love them more if they didn't go away before the warm weather really hits.

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  5. I LOVE tulips! AFter the daisy, they're my very favourites! :)

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    1. The more varieties I see the more I like them! But crocuses remain my first of spring favorite. So hardy and springing up when it's still winter!

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  6. Awesome! Tulips are just starting to make an appearance here. They are so beautiful.

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  7. I miss the tulips that used to burst through the ground every Spring at our home in Illinois. Photos are gorgeous!

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    1. I think I would miss the spring if I lived where you live-- a little. But I would never miss the winters.

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  8. We love to visit Butchart Gardens, in Victoria BC. Any time now, the gardens will be a blaze of color with all the beds filled with tulips. It's a stunning sight.

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  9. Tulips are great! and they have a great name :)

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