We can count on this bulb to bloom at the same time as my
daffodils and tulips and provide me with some blue accents for my bouquets. The
stems are just long enough to be stuck in among the larger flowers, and the
small spikes of tiny blue balls are a good contrast to the rounder shapes of
the daffodils and tulips. They’re best grown in a spot where you can admire
them up close, because the flowers are small because blue flowers are hard to
see at a distance. They’re lovely in rock gardens.
Most of the hybrids sold are derived from Muscari
armeniacum, which has large flowers, and grows up to eight inches, or from
M.Botryoides, which is a little taller and usually deep blue. There’s also a
white variety called “Pearls of Spain”. M. Tubergenianum grows up to eight
inches and is light blue at the top of the spike and darker blue at the bottom.
These rugged little bulbs are hardy to Zones two to four depending on the
variety those derived from M. botryoides are the hardiest. Foliage sometimes
appears in fall and winter over.
How to Grow Grape Hyacinth
Grape hyacinths like full sun or part shade and an average,
well-drained soil. Well, plant three inches apart, and three inches deep, in
later summer or as early in fall as possible. You can propagate the species from
seed and hybrids from offsets (new bulbs that form next to the old ones).
Usually they will multiply well by themselves, but if you let them self-sow
they may not breed true to color.
