I have been a fan of spring tulips ever since I heard the story of the birth of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands in an Ottawa hospital during WWII, and Canada’s temporary grant of international territory status that allowed the newborn princess to retain the citizenship of her temporarily displaced Dutch mother.
The hundreds of thousands of tulips in Ottawa gardens and parks today are an ongoing gift from the Dutch royal family and the Dutch Bulb Growers Association, in recognition of the care and consideration given to Queen Juliana and her family during their stay in Canada; and, in recognition of the great sacrifice by Canadians during the liberation of The Netherlands.
Tulip season in Canada usually runs from the end of March until the middle of May, with peek bloom time in mid-April; however, unseasonably cool and rainy weather this spring allowed gardeners and sightseers alike to enjoy gorgeous displays of tulips for much longer than usual.
It’s unfortunate that the conditions required to produce this year’s extended tulip blooms are not conducive to the planting of vegetables and the blooming of fruit trees, so I hope this isn’t the beginning of a weather trend. That said, this spring’s rare June tulips have been a real treat, and the history of their introduction to the Canadian landscape in 1945 is well worth remembering.
