Growing Hyacinths

• Hyacinths like brilliant drainage
• Hyacinth need full sun and a good baking during summer
• Feed with a potash fertilizer in early spring to help roots and bulbs.
• Plant between September and December. Christmas indoor bulbs need to be ‘prepared’ and planted as soon as available.
• Put an inch of grit in the bottom of a pot to help drainage and cover the top of the bulb with 3″ of soil.
• Deadhead and allow leaves to die down naturally.
• Propagate by dividing clumps in early autumn.

Hyacinth Tips

• Hyacinths can last for a fortnight in a vase. Add a drop of bleach to the water to prevent bacteria
• Blues and Yellows have the strongest scent but most varieties are well scented.
• Buy varieties with clear colours and deep saturated tones.
• Taller stemmed varieties generally look the best
• Avoid bi-colours that may be over bred.

Multiflora Hyacinths

I have seen these multiflowered hyacinths in florists shops but never thought to grow them from bulbs. When I saw one in B&Q bursting with 11 shoots from one bulb I parted with my money hoping for flowers on each stem. I have seen them called Roman hyacinths, Festival hyacinths and multifloras but they are to all intents and purposes a strain of the common Hyacinth.

My first large bulb was crammed into a dumpy 4 inch pot so I potted it up into a 6 inch to give the lax habit more space to perform. The speckled effect is naturally in my bulb and not a fungus. The single bulb is already dividing into several offsets and I will be curious to see how well they grow on for next year. In the meantime I await the flowers and scent with interest.

Double Hyacinths

Hyacinth ‘Crystal Doubles Mixed’ combines fully double blooms in the most elegant shades of pink and white with a wonderful springtime perfume. The densely packed flower spikes of these hardy hyacinths make superb cut flowers for a vase indoors.
Some Top Hyacinth Varieties by colour.

• City of Bradford or Sky Jacket – light blues
• Jan Boss – red or Pink Pearl
• Purple Sensation or Woodstock – deep purples
• Kronos, Ostara or King of the Blues
• City Of Harlem – yellow
• Aiolos – white