The Canadian Tulip Festival is a long running festival held in Ottawa city each year. This year the festival runs from May 12-23 at the new indoor Aberdeen Tulip Pavilion at Lansdowne Park.
The legacy of the number of tulips in our country’s capital city goes back as far as the 1940’s when the Dutch Royal Family was exiled out of the Netherlands. The family’s Princess Juliana eventually found safety in Ottawa. Princess Juliana and her children lived in safety in Canada for 5 years before going back to the Netherlands.
As a way of expressing her gratitude for her stay in Ottawa, Princess Juliana sent many gifts back to the people of Canada. One the gifts was 100,000 tulip bulbs, with a request to plant them on the grounds of the Ottawa Civic Hospital, where she had her third child. Juliana continued to send tulip bulbs to Canada each year of her reign as Queen, which ended in 1980.
The bright and wonderful display of tulips around Ottawa generated great interest from Canadians and quickly became a tourist attraction at springtime. The blooming of these colourful flowers represents the coming of the new season and the Tulip Festival is a celebration of just that.
Today, over 1 million tulips bloom throughout the Tulip Route, and The Canadian Tulip Festival now includes entertainment and activities for all ages during the week that the festival runs.
As flower enthusiasts at Brant Florist, we are excited that the National Tulip Festival is just around the corner. This means that local tulips will be popping up around town as well, providing beautiful reminders that spring is finally here.
Blooming in pinks, yellows, red, purples and more, these symbolic flower combinations are endless. Bring the joy of spring colours that tulips provide into your home or office with one of our beautiful tulip arrangements this spring!
Visit our spring flowers selection to order tulips to brighten up your space no matter where you are!