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Holland is famous for its tulips! All over the world, people who grow them get the best bulbs from the Netherlands, and tourists come to see the huge fields of them in flower every spring.
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It takes 7 years to produce a tulip bulb that can be sold. Most tulips grow near Leiden and the West Friesland district where miles of fields burst into flower during the last week of April. Vast fields of yellow, red, orange, pink and purple stretch toward the horizon. When harvested, this field to the left will become part of a popular tulip bulb called "Orange Twist". Hundreds of years ago, tulip bulbs were so valuable that people spent huge amounts of money buying them. Everyone wanted to be able to grow the first black tulip. Many of the special tulips grown were striped, but it turned out that this was because they were diseased, and had a virus. They weren't special after all! |
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Tulip plants are allowed to flower for just 7 to 10 days before mechanical harvesters cut the flower stalks. They do this in order to preserve nutrients in the bulb, so it will flower the next year. This also encourages plants to produce side bulbs for future crops. In early May, West Friesland's canal banks are heaped with thousands of cut flowers, where they wait to be fed to the cows. The cows usually eat the red tulips first. In New Zealand florists would love to have these flowers, but in the Netherlands, they are just rubbish! |
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