Over the years I have photographed so many varieties of tulip that when the annual ritual of purchasing new bulbs comes around I always find it difficult to narrow it down.  Having said that, once I began capturing historic tulips, my selections became a little more specialised and the journey with them began.  I have grown, photographed, lifted, dried and stored them each year since I began photographing them and each year new bulblets appear which I keep and replant; with time and patience they develop and my collection grows little by little.  

I currently have around 11 varieties of Dutch Historic tulips but I try to add a different variety every year. In the early days I wasn’t particularly careful about keeping the varieties separate from each other - this was just down to inexperience and understanding how the breaks in the tulips happen. I am now a little more meticulous about storing and cataloguing them all but due to my early lack of knowledge, the small number of ‘breeder’ (solid colour tulips) I had, broke, which meant they were no longer a solid colour but a kaleidoscope.  The best example I have is Tulipa ‘Old Times’ (shown below), which has become one of the most extraordinary ‘broken’ tulips I grow. The colours and markings are wonderful, although I should have made more effort to keep it as it should be.  

I get rather drawn in by these particular tulips. Their markings, known as feathers and flames, are completely unique and unpredictable and the excitement of seeing them emerge and unfold is tantalising.  These tulips are best known to appear in Dutch Master paintings in the 17th century and in the 16th century they were responsible for a period known as ‘tulip mania’, when the cost of one bulb was the price of a house! Their extraordinary beauty and rarity, together with their connection to history, encourages me to study, treasure and capture them each year.  I am now much more careful about handling them when a new variety joins my collection and every autumn the paperwork to catalogue them is all par for the course - it’s addictive.