Spring officially started, but until now 2017 is mainly characterized by strong winds and rain. The influence of the wet weather is also reflected in sales of tulips. Tulips specialist BloemenLatenBezorgen.nl compared sales data for the months of February and March in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and found that the color choice of consumers depends on the weather.
Color selection of tulip in line with the weather
With plenty of rain in February and March, consumers traditionally opt for tulips with typical warm winter colors. So this year much more pastel colored tulips were sold as compared to the previous two years. Also the sales of summery yellow, red and orange tulips is slow in starting this year.
"The consumer seems to match the colors of tulips to the weather,'' according to Linda Berkhoven (founder and owner of BloemenLatenBezorgen.nl). The weather in the same period in 2015 and 2016 was drier, this year the consumer chooses especially for soft winter colors like purple, pink and white.
In February and March 2017 it rained a lot more than in 2015 and 2016. Until March 20 (start of spring), this year we have had about 55 mm of rainfall. In March 2016 there was about 54 mm of rainfall for the entire month of March. In 2015 there was about 59 mm rainfall in March. It seems that this year we will exceed this rainfall.
Popular tulip colors
This year, the familiar yellow and red tulips are, in absolute numbers, still the most popular, but pastel color tulips show the largest growth. Compared to 2016, sales of purple, white-gray and pink tulips increased by 19%. Yellow, red and orange tulips are selling less (-17%) compared to last year.
Mixed bouquets of tulips and white tulips bouquets seem to suffer less from the weather. With sales figures which are practically identical with those of 2016 (respectively, + 4% and + 2%), these neutral bouquets prove to be much more stable.
Want to know more? See the infographic with the color trends of tulips in relation to the weather.