THE STORY OF THE TULIP THAT BRIDGES COLORS AND CULTURES

A tulip whose petals seamlessly blend red and yellow hues bears the name "Banja Luka" not by chance.

PHOTO: Aleksandar Čavić

PHOTO: Aleksandar Čavić

PHOTO: Aleksandar Čavić

PHOTO: Aleksandar Čavić

It all began in 1974 when the team at the Banja Luka Flower Shop, under the leadership of Petar Djuric, created this tulip for a Dutch company. The flower, with its enchanting and spontaneous color blend of yellow and red, immediately made its way overseas and claimed a significant place in horticulture.

From 1968 to 1970, Petar Djuric lived in the Netherlands, where he worked for a company producing Anthuriums. There, he learned the Dutch language, developed a love for flowers, and understood how things worked in the Dutch horticultural industry.

- Petar used to say that in the Netherlands, they handle flowers in a special way. Flowers are sacred to them, and everything is organized so that institutes help producers, the state supports them, and children are engaged from a young age in planting and arranging flowers. They teach children in kindergartens to cultivate a love for it. When he returned from the Netherlands, he was constantly in touch with the Dutch, receiving their magazines with the latest achievements, following trends, and applying them here, said Jelena Djukic, Petar's daughter, to BanjaLuka.com.

In 1973, Petar and his team began producing tulip bulbs for a Dutch company. They had tulip fields in Trn.

- We mostly produced yellow and red tulips of the Apeldoorn variety. By crossing the Apeldoorn red and Apeldoorn gold varieties, the Apeldorn blend was created. Through accidental crossbreeding of these two varieties, Jelena explained.