Next year 2017 will mark the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation which is the coming into a union of the original Provinces of Canada. Prior to 1867 British North America was administered from London as a group of colonies. England did not know what to do with its colonies in North America, the government in London did not really want any of it and would have been happy to give the lot away to the first who asked. The business leaders and local politicians in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Quebec and Ontario knew this, so they came together to formalize a Union and form a new country Canada.
To mark the event some very inventive horticulturalist invented a new tulip with our National Colour, White and Red, it will be featured as of next year for the Tulip Festival in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada. People can buy bulbs at hardware stores. It is a very nice tulip. Of course the story of tulips in Canada are closely linked to the Royal Family of the Netherlands and the Dutch people. PEI has a large and prosperous Dutch community and tulips are grown here on farms.
