Tulips are one of my favorite Spring flowers, but in my neck of the woods they last about three days and then it is way too hot for them! So few folks plant them and when they do they dig up the bulbs every year and start with fresh bulbs for the next season.  When the first tulip bulbs were brought from Turkey to Europe the flower was classified in groups.  The Single hued tulips were red, yellow or white. The Rosen were multicolored,  with white streaks on a red or pink background.  Violetten had white streaks on a purple or violet background and the rarest tulip was the Bizarden, with yellow or white streaks on a red, brown or purple background.  The stripe effect of the tulip was caused by a type of tulip specific virus, known as “tulip breaking virus” because it caused breaks in the petal color into one color or more.  The bright colors, flame like petals, and streaks on the petals, made these plants highly sought after and in Holland they were prolifically grown and were traded as a type of currency.

This is just one of the flowers to be added to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.