Netherlands dedicate Yellow-orange tulip to Aishwarya Rai
A rare tulip variety was named after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at the Keukenhof Gardens, celebrating her global influence, beauty, and contribution to cinema.
Reportedly in 2005, the Netherlands honored Indian film industry’s legendary actress by naming a rare, vibrant yellow and orange tulip variety after her at the famous Keukenhof Gardens.
This gesture celebrated her international popularity and represented her as a cultural icon.
The specific, registered name of the flower itself is the Aishwarya tulip often referred to as a floral tribute or a symbol of beauty.
It is part of the extensive flower displays in the Keukenhof Gardens (known as the “Garden of Europe”) in the Netherlands.
Following this, in 2026, the Netherlands explored developing another new tulip variant to be named after another prominent Indian icon to strengthen ties.
Netherlands Ambassador to India, Marisa Gerards, aims to gift a climate-resilient tulip variety, capable of thriving in India’s warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier springs, as her parting gift before her tenure ends. This new, hardy tulip will be developed specifically for Indian conditions, following a previous variety named after Aishwarya Rai in 2005.
The focus is on creating a bulb that can withstand India’s evolving climate patterns.
Similar to the 2005 Aishwarya Rai tulip, the new variety may be named after a prominent Indian icon.
The project aims to enhance long-standing India-Netherlands cooperation in floriculture and botanic research.
Gerards intends to leave a lasting, blooming legacy from the Netherlands to India.
Gerards has served as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to India, Nepal, and Bhutan since 2023, based in New Delhi.
On the eve of the Netherlands Embassy’s 2026 tulip partnership with NDMC
Ambassador Marisa Gerards highlighted the cultural, technological, and agricultural ties between India and the Netherlands, emphasizing the “sweet spot” of joint research in tulip cultivation and the nostalgia surrounding the 1981 film Silsila. Over 2.25 lakh bulbs were planted across the capital.
The second edition of the tulip show, featuring over 2.25 lakh bulbs, was initiated in partnership with NDMC.
And like many Indians, she is nostalgic about the iconic “Dekha Ek Khwaab” song from the 1981 film Silsila,
filmed at Keukenhof.
Beyond the show, the partnership focuses on agricultural cooperation, including indigenizing bulb production in Kashmir.
The initiative aims to enhance the aesthetic beauty of Delhi’s green spaces, particularly Shanti Path.
And that’s how it turned out be known all over India. And after that film, tourists have been coming.
The NDMC tulip beds can be seen besides Shantipath lawns, Chanakyapuri, Central Park in Connaught Place, Lodhi Garden, Talkatora Garden, Mandi House and Windsor Place.
Although largely relying on imported tulip bulbs from the Netherlands, the NDMC is currently working to produce and reuse tulip bulbs locally in collaboration with the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology in Palampur. Adding that in colder weather, they can remain in the soil but in summer the soil has to be well-drained as excess moisture can cause them to rot.
Otherwise, as per Gerards you need to take the bulbs out and store them in a temperature-controlled setting before replanting
During a walkabout, Gerards’ biologist husband Peter Knoope explained how the soil had been prepared from the first week of November last year for the flowers to bloom. “The mother bulb produces smaller ‘offshoot’ bulbs, which have to be trimmed away and planted elsewhere. You can get four tulips from one bulb. The bulb offspring are genetically identical clones of the parent plant and multiply faster than cross-pollination.
So, farmers rely on bulbs, which are preserved for growing next season. Since the tulip has both male (stamen) and female (pistils) parts, pollination produces seeds that contain a mix of genetic material from both parent flowers, creating genetic diversity. But this takes longer to bloom than bulbs
News Edit KV Raman
