I recently moved into a new house and this flower is growing in the front yard. I really like it and would like to plant more... What kind is it???
Hyacinth which is a spring flowering bulb, has a beautiful scent and comes in different colours. When the flower is finished but it off but let the leaves grown on until they die back. I leave mine in the ground where they multiply and provide more bulbs to plant elsewhere. One of my favourites too. Margaret
hyacinth are one of my favorite flowers - i LOVE the scent...and i never see bulbs for sale so i don't have any in my beds. as margaret said, cut the flower stalk off after the flower is spent and dead. leave the greenery though so the bulb can store nutrients for flowering next year. once the leaves die off (early summer) you can dig up the bulb and split it - it looks like there's one main bulb and two off-shoots (as indicated by the two flowers leaning off to the sides and all the excess leaves). they come in whites, pinks (light and dark) and purples (light, dark, variegated and a blueish tone). i think they come in yellow also.
ashleynecole06 Hyacinths proliferate like crazy. In my yard, where there is one one year, there are 5 or six bulbs the next. As a matter of fact I'd like to get rid of mine, because unlike crocus daffodils or tulips, the leaves do not retract, but grow longer and more scraggly throughout the summer and fall. joclyn Hyacinths are sold as bulbs in garden stores each September/October. They should be planted then for spring blossoms. You can also buy them right now in small pots at Safeway and such and plant them outside after the bloom is gone they will last there for years and proliferate, really proliferate. Best, Olaf
I am not 100% sure that the Safeway in Philly - if they have one - sells exactly the same plants as the Safeway in Penticton.
Don't forget to feed the bulbs when the flowering is finished. Also those sold in pots are usually forced and may take more than a year to flower again. http://www.garden.org/plantguide/?q=show&id=2065 Liz
Depends on where you are. Around here, they slowly fade away and disappear over 5-10 years, producing steadily smaller flowering stems each year, then none, and finally fail to produce any leaves at all. Unlike e.g. bluebells (Hyacinthoides), they are impossible to keep alive long term here. Probably something to do with soil or climate.
Hyacinths don't proliferate for me either, but they do come back every year. At the risk of being redundant, it might be worth stating explicitly that they do finish blooming early and even their leaves will have completely vanished by about late May.
My Safeway crack was quite off-hand. Hyacinths are not a Safeway special, but can be found in almost any major grocery chain store in temperate climate zones during this time of the year, and that includes Philadelphia.
I am afraid, that I can't get rid of mine. In summer 2006 I made an attempt to take them all out, because the leaves did not retract, like those of other bulb plants and were a limp tangled mass most of the time. I obviously missed a few bulbs and now have almost as many as before.
Shirley you gest. Its the Hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientalis. It is a very popular potted Easter plant. It is quite cold hardy across much of the US and will proliferate, especially if the bulb is damaged. If you want one that really proliferates like crazy, try the Grape Hyacinth, Muscari armenicum. If the leaves get ragged, just tie them up. Britian is probably too wet and balmy for them to do well.
"Britian (sic) is probably too wet and balmy for them to do well." I thought that's where they came from :) remember the forget-me-nots, grape Hyacinth and bluebells in story books. They are prolific growers here too but are very contollable. The blue bells are a bit more prolific [Scilla hispanica] Think I have the correct ones. Liz
Liz, may I make a correction to your note about blue bells, the typical English Blue bell is Hyacinthoides non-scripta. They are coming into flower now.Hyacinthoides hispanica in Britain is called Spanish blue bell and is becoming a problem in gardens as it is so vigorous and almost impossible to get rid of once you have it.It comes in blue,pink and white. Attached is a photo of an English blue bell
Ta for the correct info. yes that is the one I have but unfortunatley in some areas the onion weed has infiltrated and the bulbs all look very similar. I have to wait till they flower to remove the pests. I am not sure but I have not heard of the Spanish one being here but I could be wrong. Liz