It is currently snowing outside. Each big, fat flake that hurls from the sky lands with a loud accusation: “You haven’t planted all your bulbs.”
It is true, and while I could make all kinds of perfectly valid excuses, I won’t do it. I rest secure in the knowledge that this first snow is just the trial run for the upcoming winter and the ground underneath it has not frozen hard yet. After the rain washes away those accusatory flakes, I’ll be able to get the rest of the bulbs in the ground. I will be quicker about it because of the early warning.
Among the as-yet-unplanted bulbs are a double handful of muscari or grape hyacinth. I ordered them on a whim—and at a reduced price—when I was seduced by a colorful catalog photo. Little bulbs like grape hyacinth are easy to love and even easier to order because they are generally inexpensive.
My garden is already full of traditional grape hyacinth or Muscari armeniacum. The six to eight inch tall plants come up in increasing numbers every year, the tops of their short stems bearing fat cones of blue-purple, bell-shaped flowers. These blooms are the “grapes” of the common name. They are beautiful, fragrant and tantalizing to the bee population, which is especially hungry in spring.
I will never have to order common Muscari armeniacum, because I can divide my existing supply every year. Instead, I focus on acquiring interesting new species and varieties. That focus, coupled with my susceptibility to catalog pictures and prose, resulted in the acquisition of the currently-unplanted grape hyacinth bulbs.
One bag holds 25 Muscari neglectum ‘Baby’s Breath’. I am drawn to the “neglectum” species name, because it fits so well with my overall gardening approach. I am attracted to ‘Baby’s Breath’ because it describes a flower color—pale blue—that will work very well in my spring garden, harmonizing with the late daffodils and the other grape hyacinths.
‘Baby’s Breath’ will get along especially well with the contents of the second bag, 10 Muscari ‘Pink Sunrise’. ‘Sunrise’ is a bit of a misnomer, as the actual flowers feature only a hint of pink when they appear, mature to a soft pink-whisper shade, and age to white before leaving the scene. The catalog photos suggest a more vibrant pink, but even I know that catalog photos are often enhanced, especially when the color is purported to be a breakthrough for a particular species. That truth has been borne out over the years by one of my favorite daffodils, ‘Mrs. R.O. Backhouse’. When it was introduced, ‘Mrs. Backhouse’ was widely touted as the first “pink-cupped” narcissus variety. The flowers are gorgeous, but the cups are much closer to soft apricot than true pink. Experience has also taught me that “pink” flowers are sometimes more or less rosy due to varying soil and light conditions.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that catalogs, either in print or online, will always be more about dreams than reality.
The reality of my little muscari bulbs is that they will go into the ground at the front of a garden bed. ‘Baby’s Breath’, ‘Pink Sunrise’ and their muscari kin will also do well in rock gardens, under deciduous trees or at the feet of taller plants. They could just as easily thrive in pots, which is good news for bulb lovers with limited space. Deer avoid them, though I have occasionally found bulbs that have been disinterred and discarded by overly ambitious squirrels. If this happens, just replant the bulbs.
Like most bulbs, grape hyacinths like free-draining soil. If clay soil is your lot in this gardening life, simply amend the planting holes with organic matter or even fine gravel. Happy grape hyacinths will multiply relatively rapidly into attractive clumps. They can be so vigorous, in fact, that celebrated late sixteenth and early seventeenth century herbalist John Parkinson opined that muscari, “will quickly choke a ground, for which cause most men do cast it into some bye corner.”
I would not go that far, but if your grape hyacinths are getting out of hand, simply lift and divide them after they bloom in spring. Most of us have more than one “bye corner” that could do with a bit of spring cheer.