History of the Tulip 

Did you ever wonder where tulips came from and how they made it to the shores of Lake Michigan? Surprisingly, the Netherlands was not the first place to grow this trademark flower. The first tulips bloomed in Central Asia amid the lofty heights of the world’s tallest mountains, the Himalayas. Nomadic soldiers collected the seeds and bulbs of these enchanting wildflowers and carried them to the courts of Persia and Turkey. As early as 1055 AD, tulips were cultivated in Constantinople. 

By the 15th century, the tulip was the Ottoman Empire’s symbol and most prized flower. A single bloom in a turban, or “tulipan,” meant wealth and power. Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent gave tulips as gifts to important visitors, including a Viennese ambassador to the empire. It was only a matter of time before these flowers traveled west to be adored by the elite of Austria, Germany, France, and England before infatuating the Netherlands. 

So how did tulips find their way to Lake Michigan’s shores? In the luggage of Dutch settlers! Soon after Albertus Van Raalte founded Holland, Michigan, in 1847, waves of additional immigrants arrived, and the bulbs they brought prospered in the area’s loam soil. Years later, a Holland biology teacher, Lida Rodgers, proposed mass tulip planting to honor the city’s forefathers. As a result, 100,000 tulip bulbs were sown, and the first Tulip Time celebration debuted in May 1929! 

Tulip Bulbs

Planting Tulips

Today, more than 5,000,000 tulips bloom throughout Holland each spring. How does this happen? Through ingenious tools and a massive, combined effort! 

All tulip bulbs are sown by hand, but how their holes are made depends on the size of the landscaped area. In smaller beds, workers use planting poles to punch lines of perfect, bulb-sized holes. For the six miles of tulip lanes, a custom machine digs a foot-wide trench along curbs. In vast tulip fields, a tractor pulls a modified onion planter, with riders quickly dropping bulbs into holes before the machine fills them in. By mid-November, over 127 varieties of tulip bulbs are in the ground awaiting springtime splendor. 

None of this would be possible without full community participation. Each September, new bulbs arrive directly from the Netherlands. They are inspected and then readied to be planted by volunteers, Holland Parks Department staff, and landscapers at Dutch attractions. In October, the fall planting season kicks off with Community Planting Days. Nearly 100 volunteers - residents, local business partners, and visitors - work together to sow 100,000 bulbs in just two days. The Holland Parks Department continues this work, planting 400,000 bulbs of 127 tulip varieties throughout Windmill Island Gardens, along miles of tulip lanes, and in downtown parks and flower beds. Staff at Veldheer Tulip Farms plant over four million more. Just look around to see the spectacular results!Tulip Planting at WIG

Digging Tulips

Preparing for Holland’s annual tulip extravaganza, however, begins long before fall planting takes place. Each year, local professionals spend the early spring assessing tulip performance. When the tulips fade, volunteers are called in once more, this time to dig up bulbs to take home for their own yards. The city’s landscaping specialists then fine-tune plans, ensuring the most beautiful and lasting color display the following spring. Bulb orders are sent to Dutch tulip farmers, bulb crates arrive, and the fall bulb-planting fun begins again!