It is currently snowing outside.\u00a0 Each big, fat flake that hurls from the sky lands with a loud accusation: \u201cYou haven\u2019t planted all your bulbs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is true, and while I could make all kinds of perfectly valid excuses, I won\u2019t do it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 After the rain washes away those accusatory flakes, I\u2019ll be able to get the rest of the bulbs in the ground.\u00a0 I will be quicker about it because of the early warning.<\/p>\n
Among the as-yet-unplanted bulbs are a double handful of muscari or grape hyacinth.\u00a0 I ordered them on a whim\u2014and at a reduced price\u2014when I was seduced by a colorful catalog photo.\u00a0 Little bulbs like grape hyacinth are easy to love and even easier to order because they are generally inexpensive.<\/p>\n
My garden is already full of traditional grape hyacinth or Muscari armeniacum.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 These blooms are the \u201cgrapes\u201d of the common name.\u00a0 They are beautiful, fragrant and tantalizing to the bee population, which is especially hungry in spring.<\/p>\n
I will never have to order common Muscari armeniacum, because I can divide my existing supply every year.\u00a0 Instead, I focus on acquiring interesting new species and varieties.\u00a0 That focus, coupled with my susceptibility to catalog pictures and prose, resulted in the acquisition of the currently-unplanted grape hyacinth bulbs.<\/p>\n
One bag holds 25 Muscari neglectum \u2018Baby\u2019s Breath\u2019.\u00a0 I am drawn to the \u201cneglectum\u201d species name, because it fits so well with my overall gardening approach.\u00a0 I am attracted to \u2018Baby\u2019s Breath\u2019 because it describes a flower color\u2014pale blue\u2014that will work very well in my spring garden, harmonizing with the late daffodils and the other grape hyacinths.<\/p>\n
\u2018Baby\u2019s Breath\u2019 will get along especially well with the contents of the second bag, 10 Muscari \u2018Pink Sunrise\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018Sunrise\u2019 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That truth has been borne out over the years by one of my favorite daffodils, \u2018Mrs. R.O. Backhouse\u2019.\u00a0 When it was introduced, \u2018Mrs. Backhouse\u2019 was widely touted as the first \u201cpink-cupped\u201d narcissus variety.\u00a0 The flowers are gorgeous, but the cups are much closer to soft apricot than true pink.\u00a0 Experience has also taught me that \u201cpink\u201d flowers are sometimes more or less rosy due to varying soil and light conditions.<\/p>\n
It is a truth universally acknowledged that catalogs, either in print or online, will always be more about dreams than reality.<\/p>\n
The reality of my little muscari bulbs is that they will go into the ground at the front of a garden bed.\u00a0 \u2018Baby\u2019s Breath\u2019, \u2018Pink Sunrise\u2019 and their muscari kin will also do well in rock gardens, under deciduous trees or at the feet of taller plants.\u00a0 They could just as easily thrive in pots, which is good news for bulb lovers with limited space.\u00a0 Deer avoid them, though I have occasionally found bulbs that have been disinterred and discarded by overly ambitious squirrels.\u00a0 If this happens, just replant the bulbs.<\/p>\n
Like most bulbs, grape hyacinths like free-draining soil.\u00a0 If clay soil is your lot in this gardening life, simply amend the planting holes with organic matter or even fine gravel.\u00a0 Happy grape hyacinths will multiply relatively rapidly into attractive clumps.\u00a0 They can be so vigorous, in fact, that celebrated late sixteenth and early seventeenth century herbalist John Parkinson opined that muscari, \u201cwill quickly choke a ground, for which cause most men do cast it into some bye corner.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Most of us have more than one \u201cbye corner\u201d that could do with a bit of spring cheer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is currently snowing outside.\u00a0 Each big, fat flake that hurls from the sky lands with a loud accusation: \u201cYou haven\u2019t planted all your bulbs.\u201d It is true, and while I could make all kinds of perfectly valid excuses, I won\u2019t do it.\u00a0 I rest secure in the knowledge that this first snow is just … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,5],"tags":[1983,1982,295,1986,1991,1987,1981,1989,1990,1988,1984,1985],"class_list":["post-2571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-babys-breath","tag-pink-sunrise","tag-bulbs","tag-early-spring-bulbs","tag-grape-hyacinth","tag-little-bulbs","tag-muscari","tag-muscari-armeniacum","tag-muscari-neglectum","tag-novelty-bulbs","tag-pale-blue-muscari","tag-pink-muscari"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}