Growing Hyacinthoides
The botanists all got together and decided that this long mouthful of names described the plants below much better and lumped them all together. Personally, I think its a bit like marrying your cousin but they didnt ask me.
Even though the name has changed, luckily the bulb and its wonderful spring blue flower hasnt. This member of the lily family continues to brighten up spring for us all and growing Hyacinthoides is still a required spring bloomer.
Light required
Full sun to part shade. I have some growing under an ash tree. They wont handle the dense shade under evergreens very well but as long as they get full sun before the leaves come out theyre fine.
Other growing conditions
This is not a fussy bulb but like most of its kind it likes a well-drained soil as winter wet will tend to rot it.
It thrives in lawns and youll have to decide whether you like this look or not because it is tough to eradicate. Hint: To get rid of it mow early and mow often so the leaves cant replenish the bulb. thicken up the turf stand by topdressing and youll eventually weaken the bulb to the point where it dies. Good luck.
Propagation
Dont worry once you have one bulb youll have more. This bulb is a great little self seeding plant that will slowly colonize your yard or lawn. You can dig them up when they are dormant (after the leaves all fade down in the summer) and replant where you want new colonies.
Landscape Value
You can naturalize these bulbs easily and quickly. Plus they are inexpensive to purchase. They are lovely in the rock garden where you can weed them out if they get too aggressive.
They also perform very nicely under shrubs blooming before the shrub leafs out in the spring.
There are two members of this family commonly available in garden shops in the fall.
H. hispanica is a taller -10-12 inch leaf plant while the H. non-scripta is shorter at 7-9 inches. Both come in a blue, white and pink flower varieties.
Click here to ask about growing hyacinthoides.
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