Grape Hyacinths





Grape hyacinths are one of the first (in my yard, third, after daffodils and crocus) flowers to usher in spring.  They are one of my favorites too.  They're inexpensive to buy as bulbs (plant in the fall!), compact, stay short, and spread on their own.  And, there's something about that gorgeous purple color...


































Mine bloomed in March, so now's the time to gather seeds.  Many gardeners cut the spent blooms back after they fade, but I think the seed pod lined stems are beautiful in their own right.  The pods shown below are not quite ripe enough to harvest.  They should be crisp and papery (like the ones in the lower left, where the seeds have already been dispersed). 



































Sure, grape hyacinths spread on their own, to the point of needing division to keep them in good blooming condition, but you can also propagate them from seed.  The plants grown from seed will need a few years growth before they flower, but it's free plants, and you can scatter the seeds anywhere you want, not where Mother Nature drops them!

Each pod holds three seeds... no, I haven't been counting, that's just the way they reproduce!

I just break off the stem, placing the seed heads into a small jar, and break off the pods.  After I'm done with all the stems, I let the jar sit a day or so, then just stir it around with my finger, knocking the seeds free, and throw out the seed husks.



























They are small seeds, that's why I like to shake them into a jar.


























They aren't as small as, say, chives... or anise hyssop...  but they are small!  Below left is onion chives, and to the right anise hyssop seeds. 


 

So, now I'll save the seeds.  They will need stratification (a period of cold before planting), or they make a good candidate for winter sowing.  That's not something I had a lot of success with, but it did work well for a few things (see W - Winter Sowing post), and I just may do it for these.  Or, broadcast them where you want to see the grow, and they just might, since that's the way Mother Nature does it! 

I love grape hyacinths!  I have them in the rock garden.
I have them in the herb garden.
I have them in containers with tete-a-tete daffodils. 


































Later, I'll clean up the dead leaves, but for now they need to stay so the bulb can drag the nutrition back down!  I also need to divide some that was planted years ago near the curb, where they are now half hidden by a rockrose. 



(If this post has any weird formatting, so be it.  I'm officially frustrated with my mouse, and this has already taken three times what it should have, so I'm done!)





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