Colorful tulips to take over SF’s Union Square

If you want to experience a dazzling floral spectacle and take some of it home with you, mark your calendar for the annual Flower Bulb Day, sometimes called Tulip Day.

On March 21, the 80,000 tulips that were planted in Union Square, creating one of the city’s most photogenic and extravagant pop-up exhibitions, will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis.

Visitors are invited to handpick their own bouquet of fresh tulips — usually six to eight stems per person — and take them home for free. Each flower still includes the bulb from which it grew, which, if stored properly and prechilled before planting, can offer another season of flower power.

If you’re interested, arrive early. Even though the giveaway is from 1 to 4:30 p.m. — or until the tulips are gone — lines often begin forming by 9 a.m. as eager flower lovers wait their turn to wander through the vibrant display and pick their favorite stems.

According to Royal Anthos, a Dutch trade organization that collaborates with local partners to present Flower Bulb Day both in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., while tulips are grown in the United States, the bulbs originate from Europe, where a centuries-old flower bulb industry supplies more than 100 countries worldwide.

The United States is the largest market, importing roughly half a billion tulip bulbs every year.

Today, European companies provide other familiar spring favorites such as lilies, hyacinths, daffodils, dahlias and gladioli, filling gardens and parks with color once autumn planting gives way to spring blooms.

If you’re lucky enough to leave Union Square with a free bouquet, a little care will keep it fresh longer. Trim the stems slightly at an angle, place them in a clean vase with room-temperature water and keep them in a cool spot away from fruit. Tulips will often continue to grow even after they’re cut.

And pay attention to the colors you choose. Red tulips symbolize love, yellow means happiness, white represents forgiveness and a mixed bouquet signals elegance.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.