Response to: Alicia, Jenny, and Monika are wondering...

In the book, The Botany of Desire, Pollan talks about the way tulips and flowers in general have impacted mankind. A tulip is a simple flower that is usually one simple mass of color and has been thought of as beautiful throughout time. There is really no point of growing tulips unless you just like them as a plant that makes your garden prettier. Tulips are not something of value that you grow like vegetables and fruits. In Christian and Jewish beliefs, flowers have been thought of as "...a challenge to monotheism, has a bright ember of pagan nature worship that needed to be smothered"(66). When Geneisis was written, it included no flowers in the garden of Eden. In Africa you hardly ever see flowers in their religion or social rituals. Economically most people can't afford flowers because they have to buy food. Also, the landscapes and dry weather in Africa makes it hard for beautiful, showey flowers to grow. In Holland during 1634-1637, tulips almost brought the nation to ruin. Everyone needed tulips and were willing to pay high prices for them. Some people started to quit their day-to-day work to get into the tulip trade. If you didn't have a tulip, you were thought of as having bad taste. Tulips and flowers in general will most likely continue to be thought of as beautfiful and become more and less popular throughout years to come.