Tulips come in a hundreds of colors and varieties. However, most fit into several categories of tulip: regular, french, frill, double, and parrot.
Regular tulips are typically grown in Holland and exported around the world. Some are grown in Canada and few are grown in the NW region of the US. Frill tulips have serrated edges around the outside of the petal. French tulips have a larger bloom and longer stem. However, these features of the French tulip allow the stem to have a graceful appearance and not necessarily stand upright.
Double tulips have double to triple the petal count of a regular tulip. The variety "Angelique" can actually be mistaken for a peony.
Parrot tulips have ruffled petal edges and larger heads. This feature means that the stems do not stand upright due to the heavy bloom. Unfortunately, this can be mistaken for wilted flowers even though parrot tulips are one of the longer lived tulips available as a cut flower.
Vase Life:
Tulips are one of the few flowers that continue to grow and mature after they are cut. It is best to find them tight and almost still green. This allows you to watch them continue to grow and mature into full bloom. This can give you a vase life of 5 - 8 days with proper care: fill a vase half full of water, add a drop of bleach to the water, cut the stems of the tulips, and place in the vase. Keep the flowers cool and enjoy.
Valentine's Day Special:
send 100 valentine tulips for 100.00
