48 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2018 TULIP USES: Popular throughout the world as ornamental garden plants and as cut flowers, the brightly colored tulip is often a welcome sign of spring. DIVISIONS: FUN FACTS: Exceeding more than 4 billion bulbs annually, Holland produces most of the world’s tulip crop. A BIT OF HISTORY: Tulips have been cultivated for more than 400 years. Gifting a tulip of a certain color can symbolize love (red), loyalty (purple) and regret or remorse (white). CONTRIBUTORS: American Meadows Brent and Becky’s Colorblends Wholesale Flowerbulbs Jung Seed Longfield Gardens Van Zyverden Inc. EDITOR’S NOTE: We realize the tulips are not grown from seed but wanted to recognize the efforts of breeders in giving consumers more choice. ORIGIN: Southern Europe, eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and Asia FAMILY: Liliaceae GENUS: Tulipa Single early Double early Triumph Darwin hybrid Single late Lily-flowered Fringed Viridiflora Rembrandt Parrot Double late Kaufmanniana Fosteriana Greigii Species Multiflowering Source: National Garden Bureau.