Tulip Diplomacy

Flower Bulbs, Flower Festival /

Dafeng Holland Flowers Tulip Season 2024

Millions of tulips bloom in China’s largest flower park. Besides the tulips, IGMPR arranged the cultural programming with different artists from the Netherlands: the iconic band Kleintje Pils, street performers Close Act and an exhibition of famous landscape photographer Albert Dros. We also had the pleasure to host ambassador André Haspels and his wife during their visit to Dafeng and Yancheng to learn more about its shared history and future in water engineering, nature conservation and floriculture. IGMPR has been supporting the development, operation and promotion of the Dafeng Holland Flower park since 2015. Watch the video below for an introduction of the park!

Dafeng Holland Flower Park Introduction Video:

Media /

When Holland meets The Netherlands

Last October we had the pleasure to host a delegation and TV crew from Holland, Michigan. The city is famous for its Dutch heritage and of course the world’s oldest Tulip Festival, Tulip Time! We showed them the contemporary life of our family in the Netherlands, from school to sports, from shopping groceries to home cooking. Of course we had to dive into tulip history at the Hortus Botanicus and plant bulbs in the Keukenhof! We also made a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Hague Mayor Jan van Zanen and U.S. Ambassador Shefali Razdan Duggal . The visit will be aired in different segments on ‘Where you live’ by Maranda (Wood TV, ABC West Michigan).

Media, Projects /

Return of the Istanbul tulip

In cooperation with the World Tulip Society, the Consulate of the Netherlands in Istanbul, and many others, we returned the original Istanbul tulip to its birthplace.

On May 6 Consul General Bart van Bolhuis presented the tulip to mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who greatly appreciated the gift. The typical Istanbul tulip with its almond shape and pointy daggers, was cultivated in the 17th-18th century in the Ottoman gardens, and were described extensively in the Tulip Album of 1725. The earliest documented record in Europe of this tulip was in 1811, where the tulip arrived from the Orient and were planted in the royal gardens in Paris. Soon after it appeared in other places in Europe and was registered as tulipa cornuata and later acuminata. The acuminata is still grown on a very small scale by a specialised grower in the Netherlands, and its history was only known within a small community of garden and tulip connaisseurs. The event gained national attention in the media across Turkey.

Mr. Ibo Gülsen of IGMPR lead the project and worked closely with tulip specialists in Europe and Turkey to unravel the history of the Istanbul Tulip. Beautiful pictures of the tulip in the royal gardens were made with the support of Paleis Het Loo.