Long live the tulip! These brightly colored jewels brighten our days in early spring.

Tulip (scientific name: Tulipa gesneriana L.) is a very popular plant. Tulips bloom from March to May every year, and the flowers grow on the top of the stem. Shaped like a delicate shot glass, the flowers are colorful and eye-catching. Tulips like to grow in a warm, sunny environment and do well in sunny bedrooms and balconies.

The country of origin of tulips is Turkey, and tulips were later introduced to Europe. The cultivation of tulips was also very popular in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in the mid-17th century.

The growth of tulips requires long-term sunlight exposure, and try to avoid strong winds during the breeding process. Tulips are delicate, preferring warm, humid winters and cool, dry summers.

Tulips have slender branches, full blooms, and bright colors. These characteristics make people think of a lovely girl full of vitality, pure and beautiful.

Although tulips are not as enthusiastic as roses, nor as elegant as lotus flowers, tulips give people a sense of elegance and purity. This flower, together with windmills, cheese and wooden shoes, has been rated as "Dutch National Treasure".

Although tulips are technically a perennial, many centuries of hybridizing means that the bulb's ability to come back year after year has weakened. Therefore, many gardeners treat them as annuals, planting new bulbs every autumn. The North American climate and soil can't replicate the ancient Anatolian and southern Russian conditions of their birth. Gardeners in the western mountainous regions of the U.S. come closest to this climate, and may have more success perennializing their tulips.