The most popular tulips of all are the red ones such as “apeldoorn” and “oxford”. These cultivars have been the front-runners for years and years – every shop always has red tulips for sale. But the most famous tulip by far has to be the “black” tulip, “queen of night”. Although this cultivar is not a true black – the colour is actually a very deep purple – it’s very close resemblance to black creates a magical effect. After centuries of breeding efforts to develop a truly black tulip, this is still as close as we’ve been able to get.