New tulip named after the First Lady of the United States

The First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden has been honoured with a tulip named after her. She attended a ceremony at the Washington residence of the Dutch ambassador to the United States on 5 April to pour champagne over a vase with ‘Jill Biden’ tulips.

The orange Tulipa ‘Jill Biden’ has fringed petals and was bred by Hobaho/Dümmen Orange, and Remarkable Tulips.

Dutch Ambassador André Haspels, and Henk Westerhof, President of Royal Anthos, the Dutch horticulture trade body for nursery stock and flower bulbs, delivered a speech.

Tulipa ‘Jill Biden’.

Westerhof touched on the strong ties between the Dutch flower bulb industry and the United States. In 1951, Royal Anthos and the Dutch and United States Departments of Agriculture signed the Bulb Pre Clearance Programme to safeguard the quality and health of flower bulbs and perennials.

The scheme saw the establishment of strict standards for diseases and pests, and US and Dutch inspectors jointly conducting phytosanitary inspections in the Netherlands before shipping.

Under the Pre Clearance Programme, the Netherlands ships 1 billion flower bulbs per year.  The biggest portion of bulbs are tulips while lilies, hyacinths, gladioli and daffodils are also exported to the USA.

Westerhof stressed that tulips remain very popular in the USA, referencing the USA’s National Tulip. The event’s fith edition happened in San Francisco’s Union Square on  4 March with 30,000 San Franciscans  picking a free bouquet of tulips in a mega cutting garden.

Jill Biden, Ed.D., is the First Lady of the United States, a community college educator, a military mother, a grandmother, and bestselling author. Dr. Biden also served as Second Lady of the United States from 2009–2017.

As First Lady, Dr. Biden has focused on reaching out to all Americans, helping to bring the country together.

During her first two years as First Lady, Dr. Biden traveled to over 40 states and territories, over 100 cities, and ten other countries. She has continued championing the causes that have defined her public life: supporting military families, advocating for increased educational opportunities, and working to end cancer.  She advanced the mission of  White House initiative, Joining Forces and the Cancer Moonshot.

As a classroom teacher for over 30 years, advocating for increased educational opportunities for all students, of all ages, is close to Dr Biden’s heart.  From championing universal pre-school, teacher recruitment and retention, opportunities for career-connected learning, and more affordable options for education after high school, including free community college, she continues her work promoting quality education for everyone.

As First Lady, Dr. Biden has continued to work on behalf of American families confronting cancer, focusing on supporting patients and their loved ones during their cancer journeys; urging Americans to prioritise their cancer screenings and reducing health inequities in diagnosis, treatment, research, and outcomes.