The gift of tulips | Ottawa Start

7 • May 11, 2005
The gift of tulips
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In this week's column, Rene Trim takes a break from the usual gardening tips to bring you the story of Ottawa's tulips. Find out why the Dutch government and Royal Family gave Canada 120,000 tulip bulbs after the Second World War.

Our gardening column is published every Tuesday on OttawaStart.

Now that it is in full swing, it will come as no surprise that this week’s column is dedicated to the Tulip Festival. The 2005 edition of the Canadian Tulip Festival has “A Celebration of Peace and Friendship” as its theme and commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the end of Second World War and the gift of tulips to Canadians by the Dutch. Though most of you will probably be familiar with the story, here is a brief summary of the events that prompted the original gift of 120,000 tulip bulbs by the Dutch government and Royal Family.

Though the Dutch had attempted to stay neutral during the first months of the war, Hitler had other plans and on 10 May 1940 his troops invaded The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France. Soon after this surprise attack, it became clear that the Dutch Armed Forces were no match for Hitler’s troops. Although they persevered for 5 days, they had to capitulate when the German Luftwaffe bombed Rotterdam – demolishing most of its town centre – and threatened to do the same to The Hague and Amsterdam if the Dutch did not cease fighting.

Both the Dutch Royal Family and the government fled to London, England. Queen Wilhelmina and her government stayed there for the remainder of the war, but Princess Juliana – the Crown Princess - and her, then, two children traveled on to Canada, which was considered much safer than England. Her husband, Bernhard, joined her on and off though he spent most of his time in England where he coordinated the actions of the Dutch resistance.

During her stay in Ottawa, Juliana gave birth to their third daughter, Margriet, on 19 January 1943. The Canadian government officially declared the maternity ward of the Ottawa Civic Hospital (now the Civic Campus) – where Juliana stayed - to be part of The Netherlands, so that the princess was born on Dutch soil. “Margriet” is the Dutch word for “Daisy” and the fact that the newborn was given that name was not coincidental. All through the war in Holland, daisies were seen as a symbol for the resistance against the Germans.

Princess Margriet was baptized at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Ottawa and among the guests were Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Lord Athlone, Governor General of Canada. Symbolizing the international alliance, the Princess’ multiple godparents included Queen Mary, wife of King George V and US President Roosevelt. Juliana and her – now – three daughters remained in Ottawa until the war was over, the two older princesses attending Rockcliffe Park Public School. It would not be until August 1945 that Princess Margriet set foot on Dutch soil for the first time.

By that time, The Netherlands had been liberated after 5 years of hardship and terror. During the first stage of the occupation the Nazis “played nice”, stressing the fact that Dutch and Germans are both Germanic people, that the languages bear many similarities and so on. When that attitude of supposed friendship did not have the desired affect, the Nazis reverted to terror which eventually led to the death of approximately 250,000 Dutch people, including 104,000 Jews (out of a Jewish population of 104,000). Anyone caught resisting by spying, hiding Jews or publishing illegal newspapers was arrested, tortured and sent to concentration camps. There were four of those camps in The Netherlands itself and even though they were mainly used for what we would now call “hubs” for the destruction camps in Germany and Poland, a lot of people died there as a result of torture, malnutrition and disease.

The winter of 1944/1945 was the worst one of the entire war for The Netherlands. The weather was brutal and there was neither food nor fuel. The main railway connections between the north-eastern part of the country (in those days mainly agricultural) and the densely populated western part of the country had been cut off by the Germans, so there was hardly any food coming into cities like Amsterdam. Many people – among them my father – desperately travelled more than 50 kilometers on foot to the northern part of the province of North-Holland to try and get/buy/trade potatoes or onions from the local farmers (who did not have much to give).

Another problem was that anything remotely close to fuel had been confiscated by the Nazis so it was hard to keep the house warm and – in the rare event people actually had managed to find something edible – to cook a meal. My father – who was apparently quite busy in those days - got caught one night carrying a railway tie on his shoulder. He was interrogated for three days for this “subversive act against the Third Reich” but – insisting he had “found” the precious piece of wood rather than having actually removed it from one of the tracks - managed to be released before things became too hazardous.

Suffice it to say it was a horrible winter during which 15,000 people died of hunger (in Dutch history books this episode is known as the “Hunger Winter”). My mother told me much later that she and her family survived those horrible months by eating tulip bulbs (and how ironic is that?). Although I certainly do not mean to upset anyone, she also told me that not many family pets survived that winter…

Anyway, I hope that after reading this, you can understand just how grateful the Dutch were - and still are - when the Canadians came to liberate them. The fact that it was those same Canadians that kept the Dutch Royal Family – in those days a strong symbol of freedom – safe from the Nazi occupation only reinforced the gratitude and feelings of friendship between the two nations. As a symbolic token of its appreciation, the Dutch government sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa right after the war ended; in 1946, Juliana added 20,000 bulbs as a personal gift. To this day, the Dutch Royal Family still sends 20,.000 bulbs each year as a token of gratitude and friendship.

On May 13th and 14th this year, Princess Margriet returns to Ottawa to unveil a plaque commemorating the liberation of The Netherlands at the National War Memorial, and for a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the “Unknown Soldier”.
Well, this was not exactly a regular gardening newsletter, but next week we will be back in the garden to get our fingernails dirty. Until then, happy gardening and happy Tulip Festival!

René Trim

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About René
René Trim was educated and trained in The Netherlands, before moving to Canada in 2000. After studying the differences in climate and season faced by Ontario gardeners he established Trim Garden Design and Rescue in May 2002. A gardener since the 1980’s, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience, a vast library of reference materials from which to draw answers to various garden situations as well as an enthusiastic and professional staff.