Tag: muscari

“Stand often in the company of dreamers: they tickle your common sense and believe you can achieve things which are impossible.”

Mary Anne Radmacher

We only a few weeks into winter, and already the season is wreaking havoc all over the country.  We just had the third big storm with subzero temps, lots of snow and wind.  I have been spending a good deal of time looking through my garden photos from last year as the wind howls and the snow swirls.  And of course I am thinking already about spring and what will be the first blooms that show up in the garden…..and where in the garden they will burst forth.

One of my little idiosyncrasies is that I love to daydream.  I have been a daydreamer for over 50 years, and I find myself lost in those dreams especially in winter.  It’s a great way to wile away the hours when the snow is falling outside my door.  And dreaming is a great way to stretch your creative muscles especially when planning a garden.

As my garden plans are on hold for now, I thought I would profile a flower I have in abundance in my gardens, and one I especially want to see in spring.  One particular flower that sends me swooning comes from a very small bulb that bursts into those adorable clusters of little purply-blue bells, muscari.  I love the common name, grape hyacinths, which comes from the way the flowers resemble a bunch of purple grapes, and the scent that reminds one of hyacinths (another bulb I love).

Of course what perfect time to dream, then during Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (GBBD).  And as I dream, I will link in with Carol@May Dreams Gardens where she hosts GBBD on the 15th of every month.

 

I love muscari for so many reasons.  It’s a great hardy plant that easily naturalizes with little care.  Just be sure to plant them in a moist but well draining area.

This one is Muscari latifolium.  I love the two-toned coloring of the flowers.  This one will seed all over.

Once I see a new variety of muscari, I almost always have to grow them.  I love the white ones as much as the blue ones.  There are about 30 species in all.  

This one is Muscari botryoides ‘Album’.  I planted these in my white garden.

The most common species and the best one for creating a drifts is Muscari armeniacum.  And I really love the fragrance of these flowers.

Muscari can be found in so many beds and borders in my garden.  They are great to grow under trees and shrubs because the flowers emerge well before the leaves on the trees do.  Muscari are heirlooms from central and southern Europe and parts of western, central and southern Asia.

This one is formerly known as Muscari paradoxum and is now classified as Bellevalia paradoxa still sold as a grape hyacinth.

The use of the name Muscari can be traced back to Carolus Clusius in 1601, and Linnaeus in 1753.  The name muscari comes from the Greek muschos (musk) which refers to the scent of the flower.

I love the gorgeous intense blue of this flower, Muscari aucheri ‘Dark Eyes’.

Muscari is a very tolerant flower as it resists pests like deer.  Although my deer love the fresh new foliage that comes up in fall and spring, but not the flowers.  Muscari also can be planted in tough areas in your garden such as in clay soil and under black walnut trees as long as it has part sun.   In the Language of Flowers muscari represents usefulness.

One of my new favorites is this Muscari armeniacum “Pink Sunrise’.

Another one I swoon over is Muscari aucheri ‘Mount Hood’.  I love how the blue becomes deeper as you move down the flower.