If you have ever looked at a still life of flowers painted by the Old Dutch masters you will undoubtedly notice that they invariable feature one or two beautiful tulips in the composition. What you may not have noticed (or even wondered) is that you almost never see a painting absolutely filled with tulips. And for very good reason.

During the time the old masters were painting, the cost of a single tulip bulb exceeded the cost of an equivalent amount of gold. Painters were known to share a single blossom, or even a good painting of a single blossom, just to be able to put them into their work without going broke.

Why were tulips so costly? Because Holland, at the time (around 1634) was in the throes of Tulipmania.

Tulips originally came to Europe from the gardens of the Turkish sultans. The name, in fact is derived from the Turkish word for “turban” because that is what people thought the tulip flowers resembled.

They commanded a high price right from the start because of this, and soon became a status symbol. In Holland, wealthy Dutch burghers competed to have the most and the best of this new garden favorite. And then something seemingly wondrous happened. Tulips began to appear in not just solid colors but all manners of stripes and mottling.

The Dutch loved this and the demand rose even higher. Since these new and exciting tulips could not be duplicated from seed, and so had to be increased by simply waiting for the bulb itself to reproduce, the costs for especially beautiful colored tulips went right through the ceiling. Legend has it that families were willing to accept a single special tulip bulb as a suitable bride’s dowry. One bulb, a variety named “Semper Augustus” sold for what would be $2500 in today’s market. One single tulip bulb!

Farmers stopped growing food crops to speculate in tulips. Fortunes were made – and then lost, as saner heads realized that the actual value of a tulip bulb was nowhere near the prices they were commanding and began to regulate trade. The result was a lot like Black Tuesday in the 1929 stock market crash.

The real irony is that the color mutations that created these beautiful flowers came as a result of a tulip virus.

We have beautifully colored tulips today with stripes and interestingly colored edges, but careful breeding and selection have created these new beauties. And – lucky for us, even the most extravagantly colored tulips don’t require a trip to the bank anymore. We can grow them in our own gardens quite affordably.

All you need to create a little tulipmania of your own is a plot of rich, well drained soil that gets full sun or part shade in early spring. In the south, you will need to refrigerate your tulip bulbs first, as they require a cold period (such as a northern winter) to bloom well. Many southerners store their tulips in the refrigerator for 6-8 weeks before planting, and then toss them away when their bloom period is done. (Yes – they've become as affordable as that!) Northern gardeners can expect to get at least a few good years from most tulip bulbs, and species tulips or Triumph and Darwin hybrids will act like perennials in most gardens.

If you want to recreate the effect of tulipmania at its height, look for multicolored tulips like 'Sweety' or 'Shirley'. 'Shirley', especially, is subtle enough in coloration to blend beautifully with other tulips – even other multicolored ones. Later in the season ‘Dreamland’ comes into bloom with a red flame on its creamy white bloom. Another quite lovely tulip that acts like a perennial is ‘Greenland’ which is green and creamy yellow centered and flamed and edged with rose.

For something less subtle and more dramatic, ‘Fringed Solstice’ is, as the name implies, fringed with a deep golden yellow and flamed with vibrant red. And then there is my favorite of all the “broken tulips” – ‘Estella Rijnveld’ which is mottled and splashed and dotted red and white, with extravagantly fringed edges and a tall, stately stem. Even a half dozen bulbs of this exciting tulip will create quite a show.

In fall, typically when the ground temperature has reached 60 F. plant your tulips. Measuring from the base of the bulb, your hole should be at least 8 inches (20 cm.) deep for large bulbs; 5 inches (12.5 cm.) for small bulbs. Tuck them into their little beds for the winter, noses facing up, and using soil amended with rich compost or a good bulb booster fertilizer, water in well - and wait for spring.

Tulips make great cut flowers with an interesting trick – they keep growing taller, right in the vase, a habit which lends itself to beautiful, natural-looking arrangements.

But flower bouquets and garden beauty are only a few uses for the tulip. They are considered by some cultures to be the symbol of perfect love. The Victorians used the color of the petals to convey love messages. Red petaled tulips signified a declaration of love, but yellow ones meant that the love was, alas, quite hopeless. Lucky girls who received striped or variegated tulips know that someone felt that they had beautiful eyes.

The Turks used to brew love potions from tulips; modern cooks have found them to be edible, at least, even if not capable of magic. Try stuffing a perfect tulip blossom with chicken salad for an interesting appetizer, or sprinkling its petals (which taste a bit like cucumber) into salads for a touch of exotic color. An interesting recipe for tulip, crab and asparagus appetizers can be found at http://sunsite.auc.dk/recipes/english/o0120947.html . The bulbs could, if you were really in a pinch, be diced and used in spaghetti sauce if you happened to run out of the tulip’s more commonly eaten relative, the onion.

Just remember that when you plant tulips you’re not just planting a flower. You’re planting history, romance – and, in a pinch, part of a delicious dinner.