Imagine a tulip, which when it is fully opened, looks like the Canadian maple leaf. The bloom is white with a red flame of glory that reaches up from the stem base with a form that closely resembles the Canadian flag. The tulip, appropriately named Canadian Celebration by Dutch bulb growers, needs to be planted this fall so that it can help usher in Canada’s sesquicentennial in the spring of 2017.
Few plants come with as much emotion and historical significance as the Canadian Celebration tulip. It was developed by Netherlands’ bulb-flower growers to commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday as well as to pay tribute to the days in the Second World War when Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard were forced to flee Holland because of the German invasion. Holland’s royal couple lived in Ottawa and their daughter Margriet was born there in 1943. Canadian soldiers liberated Holland in 1945. As a thank you gift, after the war, the Netherlands gave Canada 100,000 tulip bulbs. This past spring some 200,000 Celebration tulips bloomed in Ottawa. In 2017 there will be 300,000 of these white and red beauties beside the Parliament Buildings to serve as a symbol of the deep and enduring friendship shared by the Netherlands and Canada.
Most local gardeners will be content with a dozen or so of the birthday bulbs. For their beauty, compared to other plants, tulips are relatively inexpensive. In most local stores, one Canada Celebration tulip bulb will cost less than a dollar.
They might be difficult to find, as their patriotic attachment has made them a best seller. Hole’s Greenhouses has some in stock but has ordered a second shipment. Home Hardware is the designated outlet for the bulbs, and the Morinville store just received its shipment last week.
Celebration tulips don’t tend to stand out when you search for them on store shelves. Packages of showier bulbs, such as Hollywood Nights, which promise a kaleidoscope of colour, seem to jump out ahead of our birthday bulbs. That’s a hint as to how these special flowers should be planted. If you search online to see last spring’s tulip bloom in Ottawa, you may see a television announcer holding a bouquet of Canadian Celebration tulips, which look white, with just a hint of red. Imagine white and red tulips in a garden, and you’ll soon realize they need a bed of their own, where they can shout, “O Canada!” in the most profound way.
“Personally, I’d plant them in a bed where they stand out so they can kick-off the celebration,” said Jim Hole of the Enjoy Centre.
While tulips and other bulbs are perennials, they may not come up in following years in the same way. They may revert to their original species colour. If you want to have a certain colour pattern year after year, consider pulling the bulbs up once they finish blooming. Treat them like an inexpensive annual, Hole said.
“I’m not a big fan of letting the plants die back naturally so they can replenish the bulb. The old leaves can be unsightly and it’s hard to plant in amongst them,” Hole said, as he advocated for a totally red and white Canada theme next spring.
“Once the Canadian Celebration tulips are finished, you just might want to continue with a red and white flower theme for the rest of the summer such as red and white geraniums or red and white petunias. It could be a cool way to celebrate Canada’s birthday,” he said.
Whichever kind of tulip you purchase, plant them at least a spade’s distance deep so that the frost will not heave the bulbs out onto the top of the ground. The general rule of thumb is to plant a bulb at least three times its own height. If you plant bulbs now, they have a chance to develop a root system before winter, and they will put on a better show next spring.
“You can plant bulbs in pots if you have a place to keep them, say in an attached garage, where the temperature won’t get below minus 10 or minus 15 Celsius,” Jim Hole said. “If you plant Canadian Celebration tulips in pots and put them in the garage, you can bring them out at the beginning of April and start Canada’s birthday earlier than anyone else on your block.”
