Grape Hyacinth

(Liliaceae - Lily Family)

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• Form
  • small perennial Spring-blooming bulb
  • maturing at about 10" tall by 8" wide when in foliage and flower
  • radiating clump growth habit

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • best performance occurs in full sun in moist, rich, well-drained soils when bulbs are planted about 4" apart and 3" deep in September or October
  • propagated by separation of bulb offsets, or less frequently by seeds
  • Lily Family, with virtually no disease or pest problems, unless improperly sited too deeply or in a wet site, when bulb rot will occur
  • abundantly available as dry bulbs in late Summer and throughout the Autumn
  • Winter foliage is tolerant of temperatures down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius), below which is suffers some degree of winterburn
  • most effective if several bulbs are grouped together into a cluster, or better yet that many are grouped together into a mass planting or lining a path
  • allow foliage to senesce before its removal in early Summer

• Foliage
  • dark green, emerging in late August or early September and remaining green throughout most Winters, elongating further in Spring at the time of floral emergence
  • blades of leaves are senescing in late May and completely dead by late June, at which time they can be removed

• Flowers
  • solid colors of purple, purple-blue, or white
  • effective in flower for about two weeks in late April and early May
  • the pyramidal inflorescence of many solitary short-pediceled flowers occurs on a scape (peduncle) that rises to 10" high
  • the slightly fragrant inflorescences attract many bees

• Fruits
  • flattened, circular green fruits mature to brown by late May
  • the top of the scapes (with their immature fruits) should ideally be sheared off after floral senescence, for larger inflorescences the following Spring

• Twigs
  • not applicable

• Trunk
  • not applicable

• ID Summary
  • unique foliage is green from late August through late May, then dying in June and entering a period of Summer dormancy before new foliage emerges
  • pyramidal inflorescences are composed of many miniature purplish-blue flowers resembling upside-down urns, attracting many bees in early May

• Function
  • good for beds, borders, raised planters, rock gardens, mass plantings, or naturalized areas, and looks best when planted in groups, drifts, or serpentine wide lines
  • the Winter-green foliage can be used to outline both sides of a woodland path, stepper stone walkway, or sidewalk in Winter, and will be visible through shallow snows as a guide for walking

• Texture
  • fine texture
  • thick density

• Assets
  • early Spring accent flowering bulb
  • mildly fragrant Spring inflorescences, usually of a blue-purple color
  • Winter-green foliage
  • propagates itself over time, by bulb offsets and seed dispersal

• Liabilities
  • dried fruiting stalks will persist unless dead-headed
  • attracts bees when in flower (this can be an asset, if pollination of other nearby plants is desired)

• Habitat
  • zones 4 to 8
  • native to Asia Minor

• Alternates
  • other early Spring-flowering bulbs, especially the smaller-flowering bulbs (Crocus, Galanthus, Eranthis, Iris reticulata, species Narcissus, species Tulipa, etc.)

• Variants
  • the two common species (Muscari armeniacum & Muscari botryoides) are virtually indistiguishable in appearance, and have cultivars selected upon the basis of floral color, floral texture, and floral size

• Translation
  • Muscari is the Turkish name for the bulb.
  • armeniacum translates as "of Armenia".
  • the specific epithet for the other species, botryoides , translates as "like a bunch of grapes", which the inflorescences resemble.
  • Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) is in the Lily Family, as is Hyacinthus (Hyacinth), the major bulb which is extremely fragrant but in a different genera.

• Purpose
  • Grape Hyacinth is a representative of the minor bulbs which self-propagate, slowly spread with time, and maintain floral density and vigor, unlike the major bulbs (such as hybrid Hyacinths) which usually decline with time in bulb number and bloom vigor.

• Summary
  • Muscari armeniacum is known as a Spring-flowering bulb with nearly evergreen linear foliage (which dies back to the ground during mid-Summer).