It’s official: the daisy - not the tulip - has been declared the national flower of the Netherlands in Vroege Vogels’ decisive National Flower Election. 

Radio show sets out to find Dutch national flower

The people of the Netherlands have spoken. No don’t worry, you haven’t missed a national or regional election - the country has instead cast its vote in a poll to select a national flower of the Netherlands, and you wouldn’t be blamed for being surprised at the results.

Tulips might be synonymous with the Netherlands at this point, with millions of people coming from all over the world to visit Keukenhof and the flourishing flower fields every spring, but the Netherlands has never actually had a national flower. And so, in April, the Dutch radio programme Vroege Vogels (“Early Birds”) decided to let the public select one, once and for all, in its National Flower Election. 

The Netherlands selects daisy as national flower 

Over the course of the past few weeks, 53.000 people cast their votes to select one winner out of a shortlist of five flowers: the cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis), cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), snake’s head (Fritillaria meleagris), dandelion and the daisy. 

In the end, the daisy came out on top after having received a “large majority” of the votes. Christianne van der Wal, the Dutch Minister for Nature and Nitrogen, was positive about the election, calling it a “sympathetic initiative that makes people consciously look at all those beautiful wildflowers around us."

For those curious as to why the tulip hasn’t been crowned the winner - or even featured in the five shortlisted flowers - Vroege Voegels explained it was because the flower isn’t native to the Netherlands. Instead, the radio programme hoped to highlight the beautiful wildflowers that do grow across the country.

Thumb: Ruud Morijn Photographer via Shutterstock.com.