Are you looking to send flowers to a loved one? Maybe you think roses are the best choice; however, did you know that tulips are just as meaningful as roses? Tulips are a common spring flower and have been given as a flower that represents life and warmth. The next time you want to show your partner how much they mean to you, forget buying 12-red roses, go with 12 tulips instead. Not sure about what tulip to buy? Read on as we share insight on common colors for tulips and what they mean.

In this article, we cover:

What Different Colors of Tulip Represent

Red

Just as red roses symbolize love and romance, red tulips mean the same thing. Red is a color that emits feelings of passion, love, and lust for some. Whether you have been dating for weeks, months, or years, buying tulips over roses can show you care genuinely for the person. Forget buying roses to say, “I love you,” go with tulips instead.

Orange

Want to show a colleague or friend you care? Why not buy them some orange tulips? Orange is a color that often emits this underlying sense of compassion, understanding, and sympathy. Buying orange tulips is an excellent choice if you share a unique or specific bond with the person. This type of floral arrangement is suitable for close friends, acquaintances, and possibly colleagues.

Yellow

Next to red, yellow is another floral color that symbolizes love, passion, and sometimes jealousy. Though we don’t often think of it as being something negative (representing jealousy), Yellow Flowers have also evolved to symbolize happiness and joy.

Yellow flowers are also great for those “just because” bouquets. Want to send a family member some flowers to show you are thinking about them? Send them yellow tulips and a card. During the Victorian-era, yellow tulips were given to people as a means of saying you have sunshine in your smile. So, why not put a smile on that someone’s face with some yellow tulips from you?

Purple

A purple tulip is one that is fabricated manually with the help of dyes. It is because of this reason that purple tulips have this association to royalty, elegance, and wealth – only those who could afford purple tulips purchased them. Today, purple tulips are accessible to anyone; the price range is not far off from that of yellow, red, or white tulips. It is a popular color and regal color.

White

Do you have a mistake you need to apologize for? Get that someone some white tulips as this is a flower that is commonly associated with apologies. Are you attending a funeral service or wake? White tulips are also a great flower to send and to share your condolences.

White flowers, especially tulips, represent purity, honor, and faith. If you are superstitious, it has been said that if you dream of white tulips, you are about to experience a fresh new beginning of sorts in your life — white flowers, what a great omen to look forward to.

Pink

Are you about to be an aunt? Are you celebrating a promotion? Pink tulips are a great floral choice to say congratulations. Pink tulips have also been known to give good luck to the recipient.

Blue

Think of the blue tulip as the four-leaf clover of tulips. It was not until some cleaver floral breeders were able to find the perfect mix that the blue tulip came about. What makes the blue tulip not only a gem but the tulip as a whole is one of the few flowers in the world where one can pretty much find it in every color.

If you are sending blue tulips to someone, it is because you are celebrating their uniqueness, how one-of-a-kind they are, just like the blue tulip.

What Does the Tulip Mean?

The tulip is, by far, one of the most easily recognizable flowers in the world. It is also a very loved flower too. Tulips are one of the few flowers that come in different colors, which symbolize different things. If you are looking for a subtle way to show you care, or celebrate life or mourn a loss, the tulip can say it all. It is a flower that has been known to bring comfort and warmth to the recipient.

In the Netherlands, tulips are highly valued and appreciated. Even today, they are cultivated and sold throughout the world with the slogan, Dutch tulips.

Cultural Significance

While today we often associate tulips with the Netherlands, Turkey is a country where the flower has historical and cultural significance. In the country, they were considered a rarity and were very hard to acquire, which is why most wealthy Turkish households had them. Eventually, they grew in popularity, and they did not cost as much – this made them accessible to even the common folk. It is not a known fact, but the tulip did not always look as it did. In the 16th century, the strain of tulips in the country became infected with a virus which made the petals brighter in color and bigger – who would have thought the contraction of a virus could make a flower so beautiful?

Throughout the country of Turkey, people began trading and growing bulbs of tulips, which resulted in the value dropping. While this was the case, today, they have maintained their popularity and their beauty amongst roses and daffodils and lilies. Every year Amsterdam has National Tulip Day, where Dutch growers come together and build a large tulip garden at Dam Square. Here residents and tourists can then go and pick a free bouquet of tulips.

Regardless of the holiday or the occasion, the tulip is a flower of versatility. Whether it is a celebration or not, you simply pick the proper color of tulip and send it to the recipient. The tulip is genuinely one of the most beloved flowers in the world, thanks to its enchantingly simplicity and beauty.