The love affair with Tulips has endured for centuries. When you see the beautiful colors that herald the spring it is easy to see why. Next to daffodils, tulips are the plants most closely associated with spring. Once tulips flower, the long, cold, dark months of winter are finally at an end. This book takes you on a journey of discovery through the world of the tulip past and present. The author outlines the origins of tulips and how they were bred and cultivated. Examples of ways tulips can be used in your own garden are drawn from some renowned gardens, showing that tulips can provide an extraordinary array of both pastel and primary colors over a longer growing period. There is a guided tour of the world's most famous tulip garden. The tremendous collection of tulips at the Keukenhof gardens, in the midst of the Dutch bulb fields, attracts large numbers of visitors each spring from all over the world. One chapter on tulips old and new explores many of the enormous variety of tulips on sale today. The author also devotes a chapter to recent developments in tulip breeding, including new colors. The combination of the superb photographs and informative text makes The Tulip an essential book for all garden enthusiasts.