Tulips are not just another pretty herald of spring. They travel long and far in history and boast, in their colorful blooms, of a past full of adventure and lore. In 1945, Princess Julianna of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs to recognize the role played by the Canadian troops in liberating Holland from Nazi occupation. The gift was also in appreciation of the safe haven offered by the Canadian Government to the Royal Family while they were in exile during the Second World War.

Thus with the arrival of the Dutch tulip to Canada, one of the loveliest harbingers of spring became an important symbol of international friendship.

Although tulips are almost synonymous with Holland, it's a widespread misconception that these flowers are native to Holland. Tulips call mountains "home", because their natural habitat is mountainous regions. They are found growing at very high elevations of western and central Asia. This means they are covered with thick layers of snow which provides them good protection while the bulbs are dormant during the cold winters.

Today, most people, including the Dutch, acknowldege that tulips came to Holland from their natural habitat, Turkey. The truth is that a large percentage of tulips cultivated in Holland originated from from areas which are now considered part of Russia, around Black Sea and the Crimean. In the 1500s when tulips were first introduced to Europe, these areas belonged to the Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turkish Empire.

Turks had been cultivating tulips as early as AD1000. They had been crossing and selecting (hybridizing) tulips at least as early as the time of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566).

Dutch tulip history begins when botanist Carolus Clusius (1526-1609), known for his work with medinal herbs, came to Leiden as the head botanist of the new botanical gardens (hortus) at the University of Leiden.

He planted the first known tulips in Holland.

Clusius was previously engaged at the Imperial Medicinal Herb Garden in Prague and Vienna, where he cultivated all kinds of plants. Among them were tulips given to him by Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, Viennese Ambassador to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent. At first, the tlip was a rarity and became a status symbol for the wealthy Dutch and the European aristocrats.

Today's tulip beds, with hundreds of colorful blooms in gardens and parks, would have astounded the growers back in 1600s, who planted individual specimens in in the gardens of the period and the formal parks surrounded by hedges.

Although the actual origin of the word tulip is unknown, the most reasonable is the flower's resemblance to the turban, headgear worn by the ladies of the Ottoman court. Also spelled toliban or tulbend, it became tulipa in Latin; tulipe in French; and tulip in English. It takes little imagination to note that the flowers of some tulips indeed look like turbans. 

During their long journey through history and since their arrival to Canada in 1945, tulips, renown for their beauty, have also become a symbol for harmony and friendship.

The first Canadian Tulip Festival was held in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, in 1953. Since then, it has become an annual event and growing in popularity and tourist attraction. The event, held in May to coincide with the tulip's annual bloom, has also established Ottawa as the Tulip Capital of North America.

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