From Central Asian hillsides to Dutch fields
Wild tulips grow in the mountains and steppes of Central Asia, and the flower was prized in Ottoman gardens long before it reached Western Europe in the sixteenth century. In the Netherlands in the 1630s, rare bulbs sold for extraordinary prices until the market collapsed in early 1637, an episode remembered as tulip mania. The most coveted tulips then had flamed, streaked petals, an effect later traced to a virus. Tulips grow from bulbs planted in fall; they need a cold winter and bloom in April and May in most of the US. Cut tulips keep growing in the vase and bend toward the light. Spring festivals celebrate them in the Skagit Valley of Washington in April and in Holland, Michigan, in May.
Seven colors on green stems
This set is a color chart as much as a flower set. There is a pink cup-shaped bloom on a green stem, a red tulip with smooth closed petals, a yellow bloom opening at the top, a white tulip with a green leaf and a purple bloom on a tall stem. The warm side adds a peach tulip seen from the side and an orange bloom with pointed petals. Three more give variety in form: a two-tone pink and white tulip, a single bloom on a long curving stem, and a soft pink bloom just opening. Every tulip stands alone, without a vase or pot, so you can line them up or gather them into a bunch. The closed red bloom and the opening pink bud show the flower early in its life, while the yellow and orange blooms are further open, so a row of them can suggest a tulip unfolding over a few spring days.
Easter, Mother's Day and the first spring bulletin board
Tulips cover the heart of spring, from March bulletin boards to May celebrations. Use them on Easter cards and egg-hunt invitations, Mother's Day cards, spring bridal showers and wedding invitations, and teacher-appreciation notes in May. Garden centers and landscapers use tulips to advertise fall bulb planting and spring open houses. Dutch-themed events, tulip festival posters and King's Day parties call for a row of bright blooms. The red tulip works as a Valentine's alternative to roses, and the pink and white blooms suit girls' baby showers and first-birthday invitations in spring.
A bright spring palette
With seven bloom colors, this set can match almost any spring scheme, and its stems and leaves are matched on this page to DMC floss such as 3348 Yellow Green Light, 471 Avocado Green Very Light and 524 Fern Green Very Light. For a spring bouquet, combine tulips with yellow daffodils, which bloom at the same time, and soft pink cherry blossom branches. For a garden-wedding look, add peonies and sprigs of lavender. The spring hub holds every seasonal set on the site.
Color-word cards and a tulip border
Because each tulip is a different color, the set doubles as a classroom color-word kit: pair the red, yellow, purple, orange, pink and white blooms with their names for preschool flashcards, a color-matching game or a spring word wall. For a page border, line tulips up along the bottom edge with stems parallel and about half an inch apart, alternating warm and cool colors, and use the curving-stem tulip at each end to turn the corner. Each file is a 2048 x 2048 px transparent PNG, about 6.8 inches at 300 DPI, so a single tulip can also fill a 5 x 7 inch card.