Tulip Mania and the Multimillion-Dollar Industry behind the World’s New Most Popular Flower

Are tulips taking the #1 spot from the perennial rose as the most popular flower in the world?

The tulips are out, by the millions, all over the world, in all colors imaginable, some bi-color or tri-color, in stripes, curly, double- or single-petaled, heralding spring with their vibrant shades.

Tulips are so varied, available, neat, beautiful and cheap — here, in European supermarkets, a dozen costs around €2,50; rarely more than 40 or 50 cents for a nice tulip bulb — that some horticulturists believe tulips are grabbing the No. 1 spot from the rose as the most popular flower in the world.

What they surpass for sure and by far are the orchids, hyacinths and narcises that also appear among the most-sold flowers in Europe. Furthering their appeal, they lack the connotations of romance or grief attached to other flowers.

“Their brilliant bursts are interesting, attractive and offer an explosion of color,” horticulturalist and historian Abra Lee told columnist Mona Chalabi in The Guardian. “While other blooms like daffodils and cherry blossoms offer a quiet and subtle awakening to spring, tulips arrive in grand fashion, are bold and shake the table, and are here to get the party started.”

Currently, there are some 150 species of tulips, which are related to the lily flowers and therefore also to onions, with a total of 3,000 varieties.

Big Numbers

In the United States, on the other hand, according to the most recent United States Department of Agriculture USDA report one tulip for every two people was sold in 2020, which translates into more than 175 million tulip stems sold that year.

In other words, tulips, as Chalabi writes, are the most-sold flower in the U.S. “Although other flower species sell in huge numbers (83 million gerbera daisies, 69 million lilies), none comes close to the tulip, whose name comes from a Turkish word for turban.”

“Florida is the leading state, with crops valued at $1.14 billion, up 7 % from the 2019 value,” the United States Department of Agriculture reports. “California, the next largest producer, is down 5% from the prior year to $967 million in wholesale value. The two states account for 44 % of the total value.”

“For 2020, five top states: Florida, California, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio accounted for $3.13 billion or 65% of the total value.”

For an idea of the magnitude of the flower business: the USDA reports $4.80 billion for 2020, compared with $4.42 billion for 2019 for the total wholesale flower crop value.

In Europe

In 2022, according to a report this month from Eurostat, the European Union statistics agency, Europe exported more than €100 million worth of tulip, orchid, hyacinth and narcissi bulbs globally.

The Netherlands, which has become the capital of tulips, among other flowers, exported 81% of that total. “The other top exporters had shares of total exports below 10%: Lithuania (7%; equivalent to €6.7 million), Poland (5%, €4.8 million), Denmark (2%, €2.1 million) and Latvia (2%, €2 million),” the agency explains.

Most of those flowers, plants and bulbs are exported to other European countries. Switzerland is the E.U.’s main importer, accounting for 31% of E.U. exports (or €31 million), Great Britain imported €21 million, Norway €12 million, Russia €9 million, and Ukraine €5.5 million.

Tulip Mania

Although the expression “tulip mania” could be easily applicable to the current world-craze for tulips, it refers, in fact, to that period in Dutch history around 1634 when the value of the bulbs started increasing due to growing popularity — leading to speculation that triggered a market crash.

Tulips, as explained by the Brussels Times, “became exceptionally fashionable in Europe and in 1634 their price hit all-time levels until the economic bubble burst in 1637. The trade of these plants was partially responsible for making the Dutch Republic the richest country in the world per capita at the time.

Traders even created forward markets for the coveted goods, allowing buyers to make contracts for the future delivery of the bulbs. This system of trading is now even used for currency, commodities, and energy on contemporary European markets.”

Today, tulips have regained their popularity and the Netherlands has kept its place as the world's main producer of commercial tulip plants, with as many as 3 billion bulbs annually, the majority for export. It’s also the major exporter of cut flowers to the rest of the world, shipping more than two billion each year, €250 million in annual sales and nearly 35,000 acres of land dedicated to their cultivation.

A symbol of the Netherlands, tulips are also the national flower of Turkey and Iran.

If tulips are your thing, there are tulip festivals all over the United States and around the world. In North America, they usually occur in cities with Dutch heritage such as Albany, New York; Ottawa, Ontario; Gatineau and Montreal, Quebec; Holland, Michigan; Lehi, Utah; Orange City and Pella, Iowa; Mount Vernon, Washington; and Woodburn, Oregon.

Apart from the various festivals around the Netherlands, other countries including Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, India and England also celebrate the versatile tulip.