Scilla is also known as Squill is a
genus of about 50 to 80 bulb-forming perennial herbs in the family
Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to woodlands, subalpine meadows,
and seashores throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle-East. Scillas have small
bell like flowers that dangle from thin 3 to 6 inch stems. Most gardeners love
blue Scilla which mixes brightly with pinks, purple, whites, and contrast
crisply with yellows and golds. The scilla family offers some of the best blues
to be found anywhere. From the huge, striking blue of Scillia Peruviana to the
smaller, carefree blues of tubergeniana and blue-purples of amethystine these
sparklers belong in every garden that celebrates spring. 
Most of the ones you will see in gardens
and their color are blue, purple, lavender, pink and white scillas too. They
are lovely in situations where their delicate beauty can be appreciated planted
in woodland gardens, under the light shade of a deciduous tree, in rock
gardens, or naturalized in lawns. Modern hybrids come from a number of species,
most commonly Scilla siberica. S. tubergeniana has fewer flowers on a stem but
more stems to a plant S. bifolia, the twin leafed squill, has more open
flowers.
The
precise number of Scilla species in the genus depends on which proposals to
split the genus are accepted. S. hispanica (S. campanulata), Spanish bluebell,
is quite tall usually over a foot and a good choice for shady location. The
hardiest of all these is S. siberica, which will survive in cool climate
plants. But if you want to grow S. peruviana, which is a foot tall usually
purple, like the names of many bulbs, S. peruviana’s name is a geographical
muddle; though both its Latin name and its common name, “Cuban lily”, give it a
Latin American origin it is really native to the Mediterranean region.
