Tulips in Dubai: Colours, Season and How to Care for Them
Elegant, simple and endlessly varied — one of spring’s defining flowers. The forms and colours, when they’re in season, and how to care for cut tulips, including a quirk that surprises most people.
Elegant, simple and endlessly varied, the tulip is one of spring's defining flowers. Here is what makes it special, when it is in season, and how to keep cut tulips looking their best — including a quirk that surprises most people.
More than one tulip
Beyond the classic smooth cup, tulips come in many forms: ruffled, feathered parrot tulips, fringed varieties, double "peony-flowered" tulips, slender lily-flowered types and the tall, elegant French tulips. The variety means a tulip can feel playful or refined depending on the type.
Colours
Tulips come in almost every colour — from pure white and soft pastels to vivid red, orange, purple and near-black — with the famous exception of a true blue.
The quirk: tulips keep growing
Unlike most cut flowers, tulips keep growing in the vase, sometimes by a few centimetres, and bend gracefully toward the light. Turn the vase to keep them even — or simply enjoy the movement, which is part of their character.
A little history
Tulips reached Europe from Central Asia and the Ottoman world, and in 17th-century Holland they sparked "tulip mania," when bulbs briefly changed hands for extraordinary sums. They have been a symbol of spring ever since.
Season — and what that means in Dubai
The tulip is a cool-season, spring flower. As cut flowers they are at their best in the cooler months; in Dubai's heat they wilt quickly, so keep them cool and away from the air-conditioning stream. (See which flowers hold up in Dubai's heat.)
How to care for cut tulips
Use clean, cool water — tulips prefer it cooler than most flowers — re-cut the stems, and keep them out of heat and direct sun. If they flop, wrapping the upper stems snugly in paper and standing them in deep water for an hour helps them straighten. More in our guide on making cut flowers last longer.
What tulips mean
Tulips are traditionally a symbol of deep, perfect love, and their colours carry their own associations — with red the classic choice for romance.
