WORLD TULIP SUMMIT OTTAWA 5-7 OCTOBER 2017 ADRIAN JANSEN SPRINGFIELDS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY SPALDING ENGLAND

Transcription

1 WORLD TULIP SUMMIT OTTAWA 5-7 OCTOBER 2017 FROM THE GREAT TULIP CONFERENCE TO THE PRESENT A RESUME OF TULIPS IN THE UK ADRIAN JANSEN SPRINGFIELDS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY SPALDING ENGLAND Numbers in red correspond with slide numbers

2 1, 2. Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, and thank you Michel for your kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here at the 7 th World Tulip Summit and to see so many old friends from previous summits. It is indeed something of a celebratory summit, returning to Ottawa after 15 years. This fall is also the start of The 65 th Canadian Tulip Festival, and 2017 celebrates 150 years since the founding of the Dominion of Canada. But then you all knew that anyway. What you may not realise is that today is 120 years and 147 days since the Great Tulip Conference of the Royal National Tulip Society took place in Regents Park, London in I don t know how much research any of you might have done on that event, but I found it quite difficult to find much in the way of details. So if there are experts on this subject in the audience, please bear with me! 3. Michel asked me to speak about tulips in the UK since that Conference in 1897, but I would like to give a bit of history prior to that date, courtesy of this document, The English Tulip and its History which was published just after the conference 4. Just in case you can t see, the heading for this document is, The following lectures on The English Tulip were delivered at The Great Tulip Conference of the Royal National Tulip Society, held at the Royal Botanic gardens, Regents Park, London, May I will condense some of the information in the first paper, given by J W Bentley, who was the President of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society, and we will hear more of that Society later in this presentation. Mr Bentley, or JB as we shall call him, tells us that Tulips first appeared in England around 1577, almost 20 years after the first plantings in Austria in It became very popular and it is reported that 140 varieties were recorded in England in A catalogue published in the 1660 s quoted over 300 varieties. The Tulipmania which wreaked havoc

3 in Holland in the 1630 s never appeared in England, it is thought the battle between Charles 1 st and his Parliament over constitutional issues was rather more important than trading in tulips. The King himself, however, is reported to have had more than 50 varieties in his own gardens. Bulbs did become valuable during the 17 th and early 18 th Centuries, and JB tells us that articles in The Tatler newspaper in 1710 reported a tulip grower as saying his 20 yard long bed of tulips was worth more than the best 100 acres of land in England. It is believed that hybridisers were at work in England as early as 1740, and by 1820 the English were as prolific as the Dutch. Most of the work was done in the South of England as the North was less affluent and less able to afford the stocks. Nothing much has changed since then, we still talk about the North South Divide. But gradually a few enthusiasts in the North began to grow tulips and soon became the dominant players. Those in the South dwindled to almost nothing and JB states the collections available at the time of the conference were almost entirely the work of the Northern hybridisers. JB completes his history lesson by stating, of late years, interest has begun to be taken in this flower in the south, and one of the objects of this conference is to encourage and stimulate the much desired revival. 5. The second paper in the document, and presented at the conference, is Seed and seedlings of the Florist Tulip by the Revd. F D Horner, and goes through the practicalities of how to select your lines to be crossed, the crossing process itself, and then the care and growing on of the seed. 6. The third paper, by C W Needham covers the cultivation of the bulbs, the soil, manuring, rotation and spacing. He goes to great lengths to emphasise that the closer together you plant bulbs, the greater the risk of prodding a fork into the bulb, potato-fashion. He goes on, it is perhaps needless to state the tulip resents the intrusion of the fork, and declines to continue its growth. That s gardening advice, 1897 style!

4 7. You may have noticed on the front cover of the pamphlet, the name Barr and Sons, Covent Garden. Clearly, this company was a main sponsor of the conference, and the business played a vital role in growing and marketing flowers and bulbs throughout the late 1800 s and up to 1954 when they were merged and became Wallace and Barr. 8. There is much written about the individual hybridisers of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, expertly documented by our tulip friend, Anna Pavord. I won t even try to cover the topic, but simply to recommend you read the relevant chapters of her book, The Tulip. Throughout the years, commercial growing and amateur growing have run alongside each other. Tulip Societies were established, ran for a while, but then many dwindled away. Their history is a complete topic in itself which I don t propose to cover in this presentation, except for a look at how things are today, which I will do later. 9. It has been the proverbial Roller Coaster ride for the commercial side of tulip growing in England in the last 100 years, and that is what I would like to share with you today. 10. The bulb growing industry has always been centred on Spalding, in the County of Lincolnshire, an area known as South Holland. 11. The deep fertile silt soils arise from the labours of skilled engineers, none more so than a Dutchman, Cornelius Vermuyden, who was responsible for the draining of thousands of acres of marshland in Eastern England in the early 1600 s. 12. The patchwork of drainage ditches we see today had their origins in the work of Vermuyden 13 and are vital for the safeguarding of our rich and fertile 14 soils which produce 25% of the country s vegetables. It is was on these soils that the bulb industry originated around the turn of the 20 th century. 15. Kelly s Directory for Lincolnshire in 1896 listed 3 bulb growers in the town who began their stocks through buying bulbs from local gardens, snowdrops and narcissus mainly, and marketing the flowers in London. Dick Wellband, JT White and Oscar D Alcorn were indeed bulb pioneers. The first commercial growing of tulips began around 1905 with the

5 introduction of Darwin tulips, which with their long stems and good bulb production became the catalyst for increased acreages. 16. The development of the industry was set back considerably during the war years of 1914 to The need for food production was paramount and bulbs were nowhere near as important as vegetables. Growers, resourceful as ever, did manage to maintain the smallest of stock to kickstart production again at the end of the war. 17. The most popular varieties were Clara Butt, William Copland and Rose Copland, and their ability to be grown under glass in the winter prompted the start of the forcing industry in These stone-free soils did not go unnoticed by our friends in The Netherlands and as expansion continued during the 1920 s and 1930 s links were forged with Dutch companies like Stassen, Dekker, Silbberard, Verdegaal, Van Konynenburg, whereby new stocks and new varieties would arrive, together with Dutch know-how and expertise. Not only was information sent from Holland, but also people, and one of the most significant contributions to the industry came from John and Leonard van Geest. 19. The Nell Brothers established themselves as bulb and flower producers. My father was also one of those early emigrants. Arriving in 1936, he went to work for Dominicus van Konynenburg who had arrived in England himself in Creating The Spalding Bulb Company, Dominicus merged his business with that of the Van Geest brothers in the 1960 s who then went on to be one of the leading growers of tulips and daffodils in the country. At its peak, their business grew almost 1000 acres (400ha) of tulips. 20. In the area, the range of varieties grew, and so did the number of growers and by 1933 there were 150 growers with 2500 acres (1000 Ha) of bulbs grown in a 20 mile radius of Spalding. 21. Such was the growth in the acreage and variety of bulbs grown, that in spring time the area surrounding Spalding became a feast of colour spanning the countryside for weeks on end. By word of mouth the fame of the Tulip Fields spread and the trickle of visitors grew year on year.

6 May was the Silver Jubilee of the King George V and Queen Mary, which coincided nicely with tulip flowering time. In celebration of the event, the Bulb Growers Association, formed in 1916, encouraged its members to plant their fields, with the emphasis on red, white and 'blue' tulips, in reality probably more purple than blue! The resultant publicity brought Spalding and the Tulip Fields into the nation's spotlight. The crowds that came in 1935 created many problems for the town, not least of which was traffic. Coaches and cars literally caused chaos on the narrow lanes around the fields. 22. However, bulb growing was brought to a drastic halt with the outbreak of war in Farmers and growers no longer had the freedom to choose what they grew, they were dictated to by a series of County War Agricultural Executive Committees (War Ag s) whose job it was to produce as much food as possible on what was and still is, some of the best soil in the country. The area of bulbs was reduced by more than 80% in favour of food crops, and there was a total ban on forcing bulbs because of fuel shortages and the need to utilise glasshouses for food production. Bulb trade between the Netherlands and England ceased, but the War Ag recognised the importance of the industry and small amounts of bulbs were allowed to be grown. There were also small volumes of bulb exports from England to USA which had lost its supply of Dutch bulbs. This generated valuable currency to help the war effort. Many of the Dutchmen who came to England had returned to Holland to join the Dutch forces but returned after 1945 to rebuild their industry which was not able to fully recover until food rationing had ended in , 24, 25, 26. For the next 20 years, the growing of both daffodils and tulips moved forward, increasing in area year by year. 27. As the area of tulips increased, so did the public interest in viewing the fields, and 3 weekends in April and early May were designated Tulip Time when special arrangements were put in place to accommodate the

7 thousands of visitors. A Tulip Queen competition was also organized annually and the crowning of the Queen was performed just before the start of 'Tulip Time', and she toured the many fields on the Tulip Route. 28. Such an influx of visitors not only overwhelmed the quiet country town and its rural roads, but also created an opportunity. Why not put on some attraction to publicise the bulb industry? 29. Spalding had flowers in abundance and the tulip heads had to be removed from the stems whilst still in flower and disposed of to prevent the petals falling on the foliage which could possibly cause 'tulip fire'. And of course, to make sure the plant put its energies into making bulbs rather than seed. A few experiments with decorated cars showed that the tulip heads could be made into garlands and pinned onto backing material in colourful designs and would hold their colour for a few days at that time of year. 30. Taking the heads off the tulips naturally shortened the visual life of a field especially when so often they were headed in their prime. Another problem was therefore created for the Tulip Time organisers. 31. Although a tulip field in full bloom was, and always will be, a sight to behold, within the space of a day a grower could turn a carpet of colour into a field of waving green stems and foliage - hardly a sight worth travelling many miles to see. Consequently, some of the visitors were going to be disappointed with the Tulip Fields. 32. And so, from the millions of tulip flower heads removed from the plants in full bloom, the 'Spalding Tulip Parade' was born in 1959, and a few years later, the establishment of the 10Ha Springfields Gardens. 33. Within a few years, both were to become world famous and more popular than even the Tulip Fields themselves. 34. Even hats were bright in those days! Firstly, the Tulip Parade, later to be known as Spalding Flower Parade, as different flowers and foliage became incorporated in the designs. 35. Adrianus van Driel, a Dutch designer of the Netherlands Bloemencorso was the inspiration behind the colourful floats which were constructed from steel, straw matting and finally decorated with tulip heads. Adrianus son Kees took over the design and provided new designs for many years.

8 36. Building of the floats began with an intricate outline of steel tracery welded by a local blacksmith on a base carefully measured to fit a tractor underneath it. 37. The initial form and steel skeleton of each float was skilfully constructed into the outline shape of the subject and then the steelwork was covered with a special straw matting to form a base on to which the tulips were pinned. Straw matting, which was specially imported from 38.Belgium for the Parade was eventually replaced by polyethylene foam. 39. Tulip heads are collected from the fields a few days before float dressing commences. The selection of colours and the numbers available was very dependent on the weather and the colour scheme planned by the designer was often changed at the last minute, having to use what was available. 40. Teams of people then worked throughout the two days before the Parade, using up to one million tulip heads and pinning each one of the heads individually until the whole float is covered with tulips. 41. The result is one of great beauty and it is not surprising that visitors returned year after year Those of you who attended the Canadian Tulip Festival here in Ottawa 15 years ago will recognise this float which was shipped over from Spalding to be part of your celebrations. 44. It was not possible to decorate it in real tulips, so silk ones were used. 45. Here it is as part of the UK exhibition in Majors Hill Park, decorated with 10,000 silk tulip heads, 46. and again the following year 2003, dressed with real tulips, taking part in the Spalding Flower Parade. 47. Nobody expected that first parade in 1959 with just 4 floats would become an internationally acclaimed event for the next 50 years. More than 100,000 visitors came to the town, usual population, 15, Hundreds of volunteers helped with organising, building and decorating, with local and national businesses sponsoring each float. 49. Local growers supplied not only flower heads, but also the people to pin them on. 50. Throughout the 70 s 80 s and 90 s, the parade was at its height and it seemed as though it would go on for ever.

9 51. But the world was changing in so many ways. The digital age was upon us, theme parks, multi-screen cinemas, home entertainment, computers, out of town shopping centres, there was so much to occupy our free time. 52. Visitor numbers began to slide, not to a critical level, but it was clear this was an event visited mainly by what we could call a more mature audience! Health and safety, policing, and traffic control had always been free, but now everything had to be paid for. Major sponsors found other ways to advertise their products and it became increasingly difficult to cover costs. 53. All this, and we were staging a free event on public roads through the town. The local and regional governmental organisations were persuaded to underwrite the parade from 2011, but after 55 successful parades, 2013 saw the last ever Spalding Tulip Parade. 54. Advance line by line. Behind the difficulties of those final years was a changing bulb industry. The 70 s and 80 s were probably the peak of our tulip growing, but for many reasons, it began to decline. Competition from Netherlands.. The advances in technology in the Netherlands would never be duplicated in England, our industry was too small. Our soils, as deep and fertile as they are, were no match for the sands of the Netherlands. We had no one breeding new varieties, we were totally reliant on new varieties generated in Holland. Our R&D facilities had been wound down, tulips were considered a minor crop and would not justify the spending of public funds on research. Farm sizes were changing, more growers retiring and selling up. The growers son returning from college found the commitment to bulbs too intense, it was much easier to grow another 10 Ha of cereals than 10 Ha of bulbs.

10 Although many tulip farms had Dutch connections, we still didn t have the generations of experience the Dutch growers have. It is in their genes, it is not in ours. We simply could not do the job as cheaply as the Dutch grower any more. The result of all this is that today there is only 1 grower producing commercial quantities of tulip bulbs. He has 40 Ha on very fine sand in the next county, and uses the majority of his bulbs for his own forcing. 55. Our tulip legacy continues in the form of Springfields Gardens, opened in 1966 at the height of our own kind of tulipmania. It was obvious that visitors were still disappointed when they missed the tulip fields in flower, many not understanding the reasons for head removal. A group of forward looking growers, allied businesses and local government officials agreed a show garden should be established to bring together the best of what the local tulip industry had to offer. A 10ha green field site was purchased, and after 2 years of planning and construction, the gardens opened in April For the next 30 years, Springfields attracted visitors from all over the world, but sadly, just like the Flower Parade itself, visitor numbers and income declined and the gardens were no longer sustainable in their original form. The Trustees of Springfields Horticultural Society had to do something. After carefully considering a number of options for almost a decade, a forward-thinking plan was agreed with development partner Thornfield Properties. After the flower parade in 2003, the gardens closed, 57. and after a 50 week build and a 30 million spend, reconstruction and relandscaping programme led to the opening of Springfields Outlet Shopping and Festival Gardens in May The partnership between Springfields and the shopping centre has breathed new life into the gardens million people visit the shops

11 each year, and our challenge is to increase the 15% who go further and experience the gardens. 61. Interestingly, the introduction of a miniature railway has increased our visitor numbers considerably! 62. The gardens are open all year and are now free to enter, and our charity, Springfields Horticultural Society will continue to promote the heritage of our area by ensuring springtime is as colourful as possible. 63. Each year, more than 130,000 bulbs in 300 varieties of tulips provide a dazzling display in landscaped beds, 64. whilst tulip themed activities take place during the period we still call Tuliptime As we have seen, Spalding has been associated with tulips for a hundred years, and although it is almost impossible to find any commercial fields in the area, tulips are still very important in another way, and that is for the cut flower grown under glass, or forced. 69. UK supermarkets are increasingly enthusiastic about promoting homegrown produce, and this applies to flowers too. Over the last 10 years or so, several large nurseries have become producers of cut tulips from October to late May. It is estimated there are now around 300 million million stems produced in the area annually, and although this is small compared with the Netherlands, it is a significant industry. Tulip forcing has always been done, but techniques are now right up to date. 70. No longer do we plant in soil from the field, or use peat-based composts, or any other compost for that matter, tulips are all are grown hydroponically in trays of water. For the grower, it is a factory process with automated planting, mobile benches in the greenhouse where the flowers come to the picker, not the other way round. 71. Automated grading, sorting and packing means tens of thousands of flowers can be processed daily. Of course, we didn t dream this up ourselves, and it is our Dutch friends who have led the way in all aspects of production. 72. Indeed, apart from the one grower who produces his own, all the bulbs are supplied from The Netherlands, having been given the correct temperature treatments for successional plantings throughout the

12 season, and in a range of varieties to give different bouquet colour combinations. So, tulip growing is still alive and well! There are just two more strands to Tulips in England that I would like to mention before I finish. 73. Firstly, some of you will remember Richard Wilford from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew in London. Richard spoke to delegates at the Fifth World Tulip Summit in Istanbul about our national collection of alpine tulips. 74. I spoke to Richard a couple of weeks ago and he sends his best wishes to you all, and he also sent me a few pictures of the current collection. 75. It stands at 80 different species, some of which are derived from a range of different sources, so there are 230 separate lines in all. 76. They are generally grown in pots, but where more natural conditions are required they will be either outside in the rock garden or in dappled woodland shade. 77. The records at Kew show that tulips have been grown there since the 19 th century, but the oldest plants in the current collection date from the 1960 s. 78. Most species are much newer and the collection has built up in the last 25 years. Finally, as I promised at the beginning of my presentation, I d like to mention Tulip Societies. 79. Almost every town and village in England has a horticultural society or gardening club. They hold their specialist competitions throughout the year, and most will feature one or two tulip classes at least. One of the most prominent societies specialising in tulips is The Wakefield and Northern England Tulip Society, and I am grateful to them for helping me with this last section, especially Teresa Clements and another friend of World Tulip Summits, James Akers. At this point I would like to congratulate James who, later today, will be announced as a worthy recipient of the Order of the Tulip

13 80. This Society as it is named now was founded in 1836, although it is believed that the Wakefield Florists Society held its first show in It is not known when the present society held its first tulip show, but it suffices to say they have been at it for a very long time! 81. The Society has in excess of 250 members, it is usual to find 40 or 50 of them exhibiting at a series of shows throughout the North of England. 82. Members grow their own tulip collections year after year, selecting blooms for showing and breeding. 83. Their main competition at Harrogate Spring Show comprises over 30 individual classes, with a collection of trophies to compete for. 84. People who show flowers and enter competitions are highly skilled, they take it very seriously, and competition is very keen. 85. Those of you have competitively shown flowers will know exactly how stressful it can be! 86. You will see in this picture that some of the classes require the tulip to be presented in a beer bottle. This tradition goes back many years to the days when tulip competitions were usually held in a pub! If you ran out of bottles, you could always drink more beer! 87. This society is thriving at a time when others are losing support, so we wish them good luck in the future and congratulate them on continuing the tradition of showing tulips. 88. And so, as we complete this journey through the tulip history of England, we acknowledge The Netherlands as being the world leader in the growing and marketing of tulips. But England has played its part throughout the centuries. We were there almost at the beginning in the 16 th century, and we are still there, celebrating the beauty of the tulip. The road has not always been an easy one for us, but the tulip continues to be one of our favourite spring flowers and long may it continue to be so, both in the formal garden displays, and as a cut flower in our homes Thank you.

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