more tulips

[cnm08]

Washington state in the USA is not the only place famous for its tulips. Holland, Michigan, also grows acres of tulips and hosts an annual Tulip Time. In 2008 Tulip time will be held May 3-10. Besides viewing lots and lots of beautiful tulips, visitors can watch dancing and parades and eat Dutch foods.

[WhiskerWatchers]

Sounds like fun!
It must be beautiful to see all those Tulips.

[minisoji]

The Tulip was originally a wild flower, growing in Central Asia. It was first cultivated by the Turks as early as 1000 AD, The flower was introduced in Western Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century by Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna. In the 1590’s he became the director of the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical garden of Europe, in Leiden. He was hired by the University of Leiden to research medicinal plants and, while doing so, he received some bulbs from his friend, Ogier de Busbecq, the Ambassador to Constantinople (presently Istanbul). He had seen the beautiful flower called the tulip, after the Turkish word for turban, growing in the palace gardens and sent a few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. He planted them and this was the beginning of the amazing bulb fields we see today.