Danique

I have a nice story to tell about this beautiful little tulip. Danique is grown by Van Lierop in Anna Paulowna, who has many more of these beautiful, multi-flowers, miniature Tulips. For years I have visited there with joy and on a certain Sunday afternoon I took my American client Harley, from the company Colorblends, to show him these interesting garden tulips. The weather was very nice, and it was a most enjoyable afternoon, because besides Danique, the Clusiana mixture, the Tinka, the Lady Jane, the Garden of Clusius, Hilde and many more of these breath-taking miniature tulips were in full bloom. It was so beautiful that Harley was literally skipping of joy through the hundreds of thousands of blooming flowers. During his yearly visit, Harley stays in a tourist home, and we had just done the groceries to fill up his kitchen cabinets. And so, we opened a bottle of wine, and we soon found ourselves sitting in this stunning flower sea, drinking wine out of reused coffee cups. This was a picture-perfect moment, oh how we enjoyed. But oh no, suddenly a big car came racing onto the field. It was one of the owners, Wim van Lierop, who thought that some hippies were partying in his Tulips. When Wim saw we weren’t hippies he slowed down but nevertheless he came to check if we weren’t making a mess. ‘Sorry Wim, Ron knows we are here, but we thought it was so beautiful, we just could not stop ourselves from opening a bottle of wine and enjoying this world wonder. Would you like some wine too?’ He refused, his wife was in the car, and they were on their way to meet some friends. He wished us a good day, as long as we were careful with his Tulips. Wim is unfortunately no longer with us, but his son Ron still reminds me of this day often, or more specifically the next day, when his father asked if Carlos was doing well. Isn’t he becoming a bit of a boozer? He was drinking wine with a friend in the middle of the day in our tulip field. Ron and I can still look back at this with a smile, a nice memory of his father.

But now more about Tulip Danique; the pictures do most of the talking for me. She is just a stunningly beautiful little Tulip. When she is in bloom, pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy it.