Tulipmania

Wednesday, April 23, 10:00 am – Tulipmania

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The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s April program will take place Wednesday, April 23 at The Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley. This is a rain or shine event. Join Club members for a visit to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank during their Tulip Festival. We will begin our visit with a lecture from Melissa Pace, who will recount the history of tulips as well as how they are commercially grown and harvested in today’s world. Melissa will share with us how to grow tulips both in containers and in the landscape in New England and where to purchase the best bulbs. Attendees will receive a handout summarizing the talk and the many tips on how to grow and enjoy tulips at home. 

After the talk you have the option of joining Melissa on a spectacular tour of over 65,000 tulips! The trial gardens will be bursting with thousands of blooming tulips of all colors! On the way to the lower tulip cutting fields, we will pass through and discuss some of the other gardens at Elm Bank. Upon reaching the lower fields we will see thousands more tulips in full bloom.

The tour moves at a slow pace and is about 45 minutes. There are seating areas within the garden for individuals that might not want to do the full tour. The path will be paved until we reach the lower field. Sturdy shoes are recommended but the walking is easy. Members will receive cut tulip stems in floral sleeves to take home.

Melissa Pace is a Garden Educator for Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She is a MA licensed teacher and a University of Rhode Island Master Gardener since 2007. As a horticulturalist, she has judged and competed in many garden and flower shows, from Philadelphia Flower Show to the Bolton Fair. She has been a presenter for numerous garden clubs and civic organizations throughout New England since 1995. Melissa has authored articles published in Old Farmer’s Almanac, Yankee Magazine and the Massachusetts Hort blog.

This is a members only event but you may join the Club at https://gardenclubbackbay.org/.

Please note that on Thursday, April 24, the Boston Committee of the GCA will also hold its Spring Meeting at Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which is a separate, ticketed event.

Tuesday, February 11, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Plantmania: Tulipmania, Online

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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

Wednesday, October 14, 10:00 am – The History of the Tulip and the Tulipmania Movement in 17th Century Netherlands

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Explore the history of this wandering beauty with Ila Cox. The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s October meeting and lecture will be held Wednesday, October 14 beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

From its cradle in the foothills of the Himalayas, we follow the tulip’s journey over the centuries through Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe in the 16th century. In the Golden Age of 17th century Holland, the tulip takes on larger prominence as it intersects with the burgeoning Dutch economy. It becomes a principle actor in an economic drama of historic proportion. Tulipmania has direct relevance for our 21st century experience with the inflated values of certain commodities and lack of market regulations. The tulip moved west during the 17th century and was introduced to North America and other colonies. Today Dutch tulip production has become a major commercial success as the tulip is marketed to the world.

Ila Cox is a plant lover, gardener, garden traveler, and a student of garden and plant history. She studied flower arranging with Sheila McQueen, has been a church flower arranger, owner of The Potting Shed, and is a member of the Andover and Boxford Garden Clubs, former Chair of the Flower Committee of the MFA Associates, and lectures on flower arranging and horticultural topics.

Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive written notice of this meeting. Guests are welcome. Please email info@gardenclubbackbay.org if you plan to attend.