Mostly Hyacinths Spring 2010

I love growing bulbs--especially hyacinths. I've been planting beds of hyacinths since 2002. Currently I have 10 beds growing. Bed 10 is my latest, planted in Nov 2009 and featured on another thread called New Hyacinth Bed 2010.

Still that leaves me with 9 other hyacinth beds to watch, and enjoy, and photograph. That's the reason for this new thread. BTW, it's not limited to hyacinths, other spring bulbs are welcome from anyone, but most of my posts will feature hyacinths.

My hyacinth beds seem to be blooming about 2 wks early this year. I usually think of Mar 10-15 as the peak of bloom here in my Zone 9 garden, but not this year.

I'll start with a photo of Bed 7 which was planted in 2008. The hyacinths in it are Skyline ( light blue and tall), L'Innocence ( heirloom that is white and tall and still widely available), and on the left side Crystal Palace( deep blue purple double flowered, a bit shorter then the others right now)

Chris

Bed 6--also planted in 2008

Hyacinths :
-Anna Liza--a purple pink with dark stamens that give it a dark eye. An early bloomer for me. One of the blooms in this photo is a little past the peak fo bloom.
-China Pink--pale pink
-Peter Stuyvesant--a deep blue


btw Check out Plant Files under Hyacinthus orientalis + variety name for more info and photos of any of the hyacinths that I show.

Oh, Chris, those are gorgeous. I love the cool color blend. Ideas to swipe! Thank you for sharing them.

Donna

They are beautiful

I am bad when I go to store I will see this plant and take a single bloom and carry it around with me and smell it while I am shopping. YUMMY smell one of my favorites. Wish I could put my nose in one of your gardens.

Amos

Mmm hmm, I love the scent of hyacinths too!

Bed 5 planted in 2006 so this is their 4th season of bloom. After 4 years the blooms are less dense and also fewer in number, but still a nice display. I don't dig them up, just let them die down naturally and keep them dry in the summer.

Hyacinths:
on left: - Red Rocket
- Unkown White ?(sold to me as a double white, but is not double)
- Red Diamond (a red double) just peaking over the white
rt rear - Amethyst

Naricussus Trevithian in the back (sweetly fragrant, also) This one multiplies for me and comes back every year..

I know what you mean about being less full, but even a diminished hyacinth is a delicious thing!

Love the photos Chris.
Lovely array of colors and design.

Bed 8 Hyacinth Woodstock

Bed 8 has 2 groups of hyacinths. One is deep colors such as Woodstock which has dark stems and some hooked petal tips that give it an old fashioned frilly look, even though it is a modern hybrid . Definitely not for subtle color schemes. As so often happens in trying to plant color schemes, the other two deep colored hyacinths I planted with Woodstock are a bit later in blooming so I decided to grab this photo while Woodstock is still at its peak.

Those Woodstock hyacinths are sure pretty, are they fragrant?

Yes, Woodstock is fragrant. I notice it especially when there is a little moisture in the air.

I might have to look for that one then, not that we ever have much moisture in the air :o)! I have a few white & pastel-colored hyacinths that came with the house, but I do like those bright colors - I think they would really pop with the white ones and my orange tulips.

Hyacinthus orientalis Perle Brillante

A heirloom bulb from 1895. Really big and fleshy with dark stems.

Narcissus Kedron with Hyacinth TopHit

Hyacinthus orientalis L'Innocence

This is an heirloom from 1863 that is still quite available. Several other whites such as Carnegie, Ben Nevis and Madame Sophie are sports of L'Innocence. The green tips of the petals which fade as the bloom opens, are characteristic of L'Innocence, and I sometimes see it occur in her sports.

More Hyacinth L'Innocence

I planted 5 bulbs in this pot over 10 years ago and they have multiplied and still bloom every year, albeit looser flower spikes than the first years. I give them a little food and let them die down naturally after blooming. Then I keep the pot dry all summer/fall until the rains return.

A bold and rich color scheme---Hyacinth Marie with Woodstock


Marie is another heirloom that is still available, but there are other deep blue/purples that would work like Peter Stuyvesant, Atlantic, Kronos, Blue Star, Blue Jacket and others.

Chris, I really love the pot of L'Innocence. The green tips remind me of Summer Snowflake. Thank you again for posting these beautiful pictures.

NLaw

NLaw, you are right. They are similar to Summer Snowflakes which are blooming in my garden right now, too. Gives me an idea for another planting combination of Hyacinth L'Innocence and maybe some soft pink ones along with the Leucojum. I'll have to make a note so I don't forget that idea when it is time to order bulbs. Thanks for the idea.

I finally have some hyacinths starting to bloom - like yours Chris they have been in the ground for several years.

Steve,

A lovely pink hyacinth with dark stems. Is it Fondant, perhaps? Fondant has been my best performing light pink--reliably blooms and stays relatively full flowered. I've got some more in my new bed that are just starting to open. Also good to hear that others are having success using hyacinths as perennials.

I believe that is it, Chris - pobably my favorite pink and the one I planted first. I also have Pink Pearl but it is not the bubble-gum pink that this is. I agree it comes back really well. I love hyacinths and too bad so many don't realize they are a much better choice for moderately warm winter climates like ours than tulips - often the "experts" just lump them together. I don't even chill mine.....do you?

Gipsy Queen

A hyacinth bed planted in '07

Steve and Chris, I am loving your hyacinths. They are spectacular. Your uses of color are just wonderful. Nice to see that the "older" ones are still quite wonderfu.

D

Oh dear - I've just gotten a email informing me that Brent and Becky's fall catalog has been activated, and that there is a 10% discount until July 1.

Darn, I'll have to go take a look!

Thanks Donna - I love them too - really an underutilized bulb. And thy return well too - much better than tulips especially for those of us in warmer zones.

Here's another hyacinth - today

Another

Went out and dug up my engulfed hyacinths. They had truly broken down into small pieces, but I though what the heck, separated them and gave them bulb food and replants.

And thank you, Steve and Chris, for the iamges of Kronos. I knew that I had put in either that or General Kohler years ago. Your bright blue Kronos make me sure, now, that it's General Kohler. I't's broken dormancy. I planted it years ago, it disappeared, and then last year I found some wuite large bulbs, it and replanted it and the flowers were huge. It's a dark purple double. I'll post it as it starts to appear more clearly.

Brent and Bucky's selection is lovely but ten hyacinths is quite a few!

I find that the smaller old ones grown in little clumps the way you two have them are charming. Like bouquets of flowers. What great inspiration.

Chris- They all look great. I am wondering what you grow in these beds later in the year. The spring bulbs make a great showing early on but that leaves the rest of the long summer to fill in.

NewYorkRita: I just cover them with mulch after the leaves die down and leave them alone. I don't want to plant anything that will require summer watering. My theory is that keeping them dry over the summer is one reason they come back so well for me--loosely based on their ancestral heritage of growing on the slopes and rocky places along the Mediterranean where it is hot and dry in the summer. I know this isn't practical for many people and may not be neccessary. In fact some studies by Cornell of hyacinths in Ithaca NY, Long Island, and Clemson SC (all of whom have rain in the summer) found that there are several varieties that come back very well in those wetter conditions, too. e.g Hyacinths Atlantic, Carnegie, City of Haarlem, Delft Blue, Fondant, Gipsy Queen, White Pearl did especially well.

Some suggestions by Cornell for companion plantings for hyacinths are:
-Ophiopogon
-Hosta
-Geranium --many species like sanguineum, etc
-Alchemilla
-Salvia nemorosa
-Campanula poscharskyana
-Solidago flexicaulis
-Nepeta faassenii
-Teucrium hispanicum


I'm not sure the criterion that Cornell used, but I noticed that some of these would be either low growing, spreading, or else dormant during hyacinth bloom times and then fill in after.

Maybe other readers of this thread can tell us what they use to cover the dormant hyacinth beds.

Chris

Cornell. Alright!!! Ithaca is my hometown and graduated from Cornell School Of Agriculture & Life Sciences.

I use lots of drought tolerant annuals and perennials around spring bulbs to fill in the spots, early bloomers like Hyacinths, with leaves that don't hang around for long, are pretty easy to deal with. Its the blasted Daffodil foliage that drives me nuts, hanging around till June sometimes. I still love them enough to put up with the leaves. I have found Daylilies are good paired with Daffodils and other spring bulbs, but I've got Daffs everywhere and am not a big enough Daylily fan to plant that many. Not that I don't like them- at last count I had at least 100 Daylily varieties out in the garden, LOL. They are truly "workhorses" of the summer garden- low care and high reward!

That's true. That foliage hangs around and keeps growing for several months. Would have to plant something with similar foliage or something that will grow above the droopy daffodil foliage.

LOL Neal you crack me up - I have the same problem with the daffodil foliage - we're off and ready for the next "wave" of stuff (lilies, daylilies, peonies, etc) and the daff. foliage just won't go away. Looks stringy and ugly and even mixed with daylilies to 'hide" it, it doesn't seem to help much and ruins the garden's look.

I think tulip foliage is the best; it is the fastest to disappear and the easiest to remove. I usually tug it gently when it starts to yellow and if it easily comes out, we are OK. I think the hyacinth foliage is the ugliest however as it decays and it hangs around much longer than the tulips' though not as long as the narc. foliage.

I love the foliage stuff. Really gross. My solution was actually to put in two of the rose Sea Foam in my main daff bed. Sea Foam grows mostly sideways so it obscures it by actually growing over it. I put them inlast year and they are taking over. See the tulip foliage to the left and right? This is in June.

And here's July. Foliage is in upper right corner.

I think its tough to pick up the left over foliage. You're hiding it very well. LOL You can find it because you know where to look for it!!!