10 Fun Facts About Tulips

By Sarah Whiton

Tulips are a spring favorite among our designers at Farmhouse Floral! We love them for their abundant colors and varieties as well as their clean lines and simplicity. The wide range of bright colors will add vibrancy to mixed flower arrangements and add a touch that is quintessentially spring. Designed on their own, they offer a style that is fresh and timeless. If you need more reason than that to anticipate their arrival in your garden, here are ten fun facts about tulips to enjoy:

There are over 150 species of Tulips with over 3,000 different varieties.
They are part of the Lily family.
They are native to Central Asia, but didn't gain in popularity until reaching the Netherlands.
Tulips were once the world's most expensive flower. In the 1600's they were said to cost as much as 10 times a working man's salary in the Netherlands - that's more than a house! This period in history is known as "tulip mania".
The Netherlands are still the largest producer of tulips, growing and exporting nearly three billion bulbs per year.
Tulip petals are edible (please don't eat anything from your florist, though - stick to your own organic blooms, and don't eat the bulbs)
Cut tulips in a vase of water will grow an additional inch or more! They will bend and twist towards light.
They come in almost every shade and color in the rainbow, except true blue.
The name tulip is derived from a Persian word, delband, which means turban.
Most tulips have one flower per stem, however varieties can have as many as four flowers per stem.