I love a patch of Grape Hyacinths. You can see that they get their name from
the color in the clusters of flowers on the little spikes. Actually the tops of these have been a little
frost blasted, but they are still a wonderful display. Muscari armeniacum is the botanical name for
this particular type of Grape Hyacinth. There are other species as well. There are some that give you a larger bloom,
some tinged with white, some are even in the hotter color frames, the pinks and the reds,
yellows and orange. We may have one blooming down below. It is a Fall planted bulb. Plant these in the Fall like you would a Crocus
or a Daffodil and then what happens is it spends the Winter dormant and it comes up
in early Spring and gives you this great display of dark blue to purple flowers. Then after the flowers have died back the
foliage still hangs around, it's continuing to gather nutrients and send sugars to the
root bulb for flowering next year, to get it through the long Winter and for it to flower
next year. I have some Muscari here at the garden that
are almost evergreen. Their leaves stayed around all Winter long. This is not one of them. This actually came up this Spring. The honey bees are working it, it's fragrant. Its a wonderful, wonderful eye-catching contrast
to the yellows and the warmer colors of the Daffodils next to it. Muscari - Grape Hyacinth are a carefree, very
easily grown Spring bulb. Again, you plant them in the Fall. No problem coming up. You do want to avoid wet, swampy soils and
other than that, you're good to go. Not many things will mess with the Grape Hyacinth. I suppose that moles and voles may be a problem
in some areas, but I haven't even had squirrels mess with ours. Muscari armeniacum.