The desire to possess new, rare and thus expensive plants has been a feature of garden-making since it began and continues to be so; as recently as February 2022 bulbs of Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Tears’ were changing hands for £1,850 each. But at least this obsession didn’t bankrupt a nation! This Gardens Trust mini-series tells the story of the mania that developed around three of the most sought-after plants: tulips, rhododendrons and orchids. Each lecture will delve into how, and when these the plants arrived and what happened when they did, explaining along the way just what it was about them that caused such a furor – and a hole in the pocket.
This ticket (register HERE) is for this February 11 individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 3 sessions at a cost of £21 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £15.75). Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk.
Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.
It’s the species from the Tien Shan mountains, not the ones native to the Mediterranean region, that caused all the fuss. Perhaps first arriving into Germany the late 1550s, the first illustration (of Tulipa suaveolens) was published there in 1561. But it was the Dutch Republic of the 1620 when things began to go bonkers and bulbs nearly bust the country. And yet tulips remain as Dutch as clogs with the tulip bulb export industry worth €117m in 2022 and Keukenhoff and the bulb fields of the ‘Bollenstreek’ major tourist attractions.
Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He lives in Denmark where he gardens one of the historic de Runde Haver and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot.
Image: Jacob Marrel, Four Tulips, detail, c.1635, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain
