January 19, 2024 - Center Garden Club met on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at the Texas Agri-life Building. The program was presented by member Cherry Jones on the long and fascinating history of tulips.
We learned that the wild (botanical) tulip is native to Asia and made their way to Europe through trade with the Ottoman Empire. By the early 1600’s tulips became so coveted in The Netherlands that it led to an economic bubble and bust now known as Tulipomania. At the height of the frenzy one tulip sold for the equivalent of $40,000. Many Dutch investors lost fortunes comparable to the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Today in The Netherlands a much more stable tulip industry ships one billion bulbs worldwide every year.
