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Breeder Tulips is a collective name for all kinds of single-coloured tulip cultivars originally used by French, Flemish, English and Dutch growers as starting material for broken tulips. Northern French and Flemish cultivars were superior in the 19th century, but Dutch growers were again much better at propagating good cultivars, so they held a large share of the trade. During this time, the nursery area expanded from Haarlem to Overveen and Bloemendaal, and then to Hillegom, Lisse, Noordwijk and beyond. To increase sales, traders started marketing the tulip as a cut flower, where before they were absent. The sturdy Breeder Tulips were well suited for this purpose and soon became a commercial success. The huge variety of flower shapes and colours within this group actually mirrors that of all previous cultivars. We find the graceful Old Times, resembling T. clusiana, the elegant La Joyeuse with its difficult to define colour and the stately Lord Stanley. The available assortment now includes mainly Dutch, English and French cultivars from the period 1800-1948.
