Saturday, May 9, 2009

A Special Flower [Moeder's Dag]


La Tulipe Noire
Queen of the Night
Black Diamond
Zwarte Tulp
A Tulipa Negra
El Tulipan Negro

In order to celebrate Mother's Day, I let you today with beautiful images of the black tulip. I have found some in one of the gardens in my village. Actually, it is dark brown/purple. It is very difficult to spot one !


Since the beginning or their arrival to the Netherlands, in the XVI century, the tulips have had a special place in the Dutch hearts. They did not get satisfaction in admiring them only in the original colours: white, yellow or pink. Bulb farmers were engaged all the time in obtaining new types of colours, through genetic crossing. At a certain moment they decided to develop something more exclusive, special... it should be black !


The development of a new sort of tulip costs much time. It means that first a crossbreed is tried for five years, before the first succesful blossom begins. After that, 15 to 20 years in order to get bulbs that can resist to the endurances of travels due to international trade. Nowadays there are more than 3.000 types of tulips in the market, mas a real black tulip it is still not there. There is a very, very dark purple tulip. But it is not really black.

The photos of the "black" tulip are my present to all mothers who are now reading my blog.

Have a wonderful day !

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