Tulips are sprouting in our backyard. The daffodils are already in bloom, some beaten down by the recent rains, but raising their golden trumpets to the chill of winter. One of the places I would like to visit (again) is Holland. I’ve visited twice, and each time missed the tulip season with the stripes of color filling vast acres of land.
The Ottoman Turks discovered the wild tulips first. Tulip in Turkish means “turban”, and these particular turbans were gorgeous. An Austrian Hapsburg ambassador to the court of Suleyman the Magnificent in Constantinople stole a few bulbs and sent them west in the 1550s. The Dutch, with such limited land space, filled their “jewel boxes” (window planters) with flowers. Tulips did well and were a hit! Tulipmania spread like wildfire. Prices climbed until people were spending a fortune on a single bulb. What goes up eventually comes down (like a housing market!), and...