Carolus Clusius

The princess de Climay once referred to Carolus Clusius as “the father of every beautiful garden in (Europe).” Clusius first encountered the tulip after his friend, Joris Rye learned in 1563 of the unusual and beautiful “Turkish onion.” The legend goes something like this: In 1562, a ship arrived in Antwerp carrying Turkish textiles. Somewhere in the cargo hold along with the cloth was a shipment of bulbs—probably a gift for such a lavish order.

Not knowing what the bulbs were, and assuming they were some sort of Turkish onion, the merchant roasted and ate most of them. The rest he planted in the kitchen garden for use when they bloomed. Upon seeing the unrecognizable red and yellow blooms of the tulips he had planted, he contacted Rye who in turn consulted his friend, botanist Carolus Clusius.

Carolus Clusius

Considered a highly able horticulturalist who frequently traveled throughout Europe in search of rare and valuable plants, Clusius soon recognized the singular opportunity he possessed. The recognition of Clusius as “the father of every beautiful garden” probably results from the fact that he traveled so much. As such, he did not, or could not, cultivate his own gardens, so he took great pleasure in stocking the gardens of others—providing many, many varietals that he found on his frequent travels.

In January 1592, the aging and crippled Clusius accepted a position at the University of Leiden, delivering him to Holland. According to Mike Dash in Tulipmania, his history of the tulip, “Thus it was that the man who had done more than anyone to popularize the tulip made his way to the Dutch Republic, where his flower would become truly famous.” (p.53)

Note: That said, Clusius was not the first person to grow tulips in Holland. That honor belongs to Amsterdam apothecary, Walich Ziwertszoon. (In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries surnames were still relatively rare. The suffix –zoon means “son of"; in this case son of Ziwert.) Clusius wasn’t even the first person to raise the flower in Leiden. That was Johan van Hoghelande, who also got tulip bulbs from Joris Rye. He planted tulips at the university before Clusius even arrived. According to Dash, Clusius was “the only man in the United Provinces (present day Netherlands and Belgium)—perhaps all of Europe—who was perfectly qualified to describe and catalog and understand the flower.“ (p.54) 

It is because of Clusius that the popularity of the now famous flower spread, first throughout Europe, then worldwide.