In April and early May this is the flower garden of Europe; tens of thousands tour the blossom belt on foot, by bicycle, bus, canal boat and helicopter. The fields are riotous with color —some reds so intense in the sunlight that workers stripping the blossoms so their strength drains into the bulbs are blinded, temporarily but painfully. Now the bulb is forming, deep in its fleshy layers, a lower in miniature. July is the time for lifting the bulbs, for cleaning, drying and storing.
In August they're shipped; Canadian plant inspectors, their expenses paid by the Dutch, rush up and down Bulbland, as the strip of growing country is called, okaying consignments that once were held up for days on Canadian piers. Then the bulbmen fan out around the world, stolid practical salesmen peddling a highly impractical product, the luxury they have made a necessity. Once they sold only to British mansions and French chateaux. Now every Canadian home owner is a target. In a hundred countries they sell three billion bulbs a year for a hundred million gardens; in Toronto alone there are a hundred Dutch firms competing.
The variety of strains they offer is bewildering. The Dutch breed new flower styles as the French set feminine fashions. One shrewd buy, with a lot of luck, can set a man up for life.
In a venturesome plant hunter, Joseph Haberhauer, led an expedition into the Samarkand mountains to collect rare wild red tulips for van Tubergen, a bulb firm in Haarlem. Here, Dirk Lefeber, a young and aggressive grower, saw them and bought some. One flower in particular obsessed him. In twelve years he had fifty beds, and over the next few years, using ingenuity as a salesman, his bulb sales made him rich.
Later the van Tubergen firm, too, hit the jackpot with the bulbs that the firm kept, bulbs known now as Red Emperor, the all-time Canadian favorite and probably the most famous of all tulips. Even for an expert, breeding a new strain is tricky. Its color must be sunproof. Its stem must be sturdy, its foliage narrow to limit the space it takes up.
It must force well—bloom early when grown inside. It must produce—beget plenty of saleable offspring. Finally, it must be better in some way than any existing variety. You cross a white with a black, you may get a yellow. Or its great - grandfather's. Who knows? Maybe the fashion merchants in Paris have something to do with it. You pick up the paper and see the craziest-looking things.
I tell my wife, 'I hope you don't buy something like that. Sometimes nature will cross a fashionable new breed where skill fails. They were taking the heads plucking the blooms off Whiteley Gem, a single-cup narcissus, very pale. They even played Dutch music to welcome the child into the world! So, the baby was born, time went by and in May , when the war was finally over, Princess Juliana flew back to the Netherlands.
She never forgot the help she was given though so, in order to show her gratitude, she sent , tulips to the Canadians. In addition, she ordered that 20, of tulips should be sent annually to Ottawa, a custom that holds up to our days. Latest Popular Hot Trending. Menu Ever Wonder Why? In the year of , Queen Juliana was able to travel and experience the Canadian Tulip Festival for herself.
In , her daughter Margriet paid a visit to partake in the remarkable 50 th anniversary of the festival. An astounding number of about 3 million colorful tulips are a part of the Canadian Tulip Festival each year now.
A kind gesture of gratitude really has flourished into a marvelous ritual that no one could have ever predicted. There are several parks that the hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors can go see the tulip gardens at. The city of Gatineau is in very close proximity to Ottawa, so tulip displays can be found in various gardens in both of these areas.
Commissioners Park happens to have the highest concentration of tulips during the Canadian Tulip Festival. There might be as many as , tulips in this park during the festival to see! Walking along the thousands of colorful flowers next to Dow Lake is an experience like no other. This is a quiet park that is worth a leisurely stroll around when the other parks get too overcrowded. The elegant Christ Church Cathedral, which was built in the late s, can be seen from this park, as well.
This park also happens to honor the well-known Canadian photographer Malak Karsh. Karsh played a major role in helping with organizing the very first Canadian Tulip Festival. Sign up. Stay informed with our newsletter focused on local coronavirus coverage, delivered to your inbox.
Stay informed with our local coronavirus coverage, delivered to your inbox. Manage Print Subscription. Main Menu Search ottawacitizen. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser, or tap here to see other videos from our team. Latest National Stories.
0コメント