{"id":286,"date":"2013-12-07T07:06:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-07T14:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=286"},"modified":"2013-11-30T09:08:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T16:08:58","slug":"first-bulb-catalogue-for-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/first-bulb-catalogue-for-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Muscari my Grape Hyacinths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the earliest blue bulbs to show in my garden are the Muscari.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/muscari-grape-hyacinth.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">At the end of June I received &#8216;J Parkers&#8217; Autumn wholesale catalogue. They claim to be &#8216;the greatest name in Dutch Bulbs&#8217; and I have bought from them for my garden several times with good results. Last season I bought several varieties of Muscari. Whilst the wholesale catalogue is priced without vat the prices and rates for larger quantities make for a reasonably economic priced deal if you spend the minimum order value. They supply many of the local retailers but also have a retail catalogue.<\/p>\n<h3>Grape Hyacinth &#8211; Muscari Varieties<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Other common names for Muscari include Starch Hyacinth or Feather Hyacinth.<\/li>\n<li>M. Plumosum the feather hyacinth have grown well and the flower heads are fuller and fluffy<\/li>\n<li>M. Azureum have soft blue flowers and I grew them in pots some of which made excellent gifts to friends and fellow gardeners.<\/li>\n<li>The third variety I bought were the porcelain blue M. Valerie Finnis and they were OK without being special.<\/li>\n<li>M Golden fragrance has yellow florets toped with purple before they are fully open. It is said to be very fragrant and I may try some this year.<\/li>\n<li>Another musk scented variety is M. Muscarium with purple to olive flower heads. They are a bit later flowering in May<\/li>\n<li>Ofter the name explains the flower shape or colour M Azureum album is pure white and M Mount Hood has a white top like a hood on the blue flowers whilst M lactifolium has a single broad leaf with a bi-coloured flower spike<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Cultural tips for Grape Hyacinth<\/h3>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This bulb flowers in spring so it can be planted under a deciduous tree as it should get the sun it needs before the leaves start to shade it.<\/li>\n<li>Useful for rock gardens but plant 4 inches apart to allow leaves to develop and new offsets to grow and create a mass effect.<\/li>\n<li>If troubled with rodent damage to bulbs plant them 2-3 inches deep with a layer of chichen wire over the bulbs before filling with soil on the top.<\/li>\n<li>Lift and divide clumps after 4-5 years if they are over crowded or loosing flowering vitality<\/li>\n<li>Add a little sand or grit if the soil is too damp or waterlogged.<\/li>\n<li>Over feeding reduces flower display so apart from some bone meal when planting do not bother to feed.<\/li>\n<li>Seed can be collected in July and distributed in a new or adjacent area<\/li>\n<li>Grape hyacinth are reasonably pest and disease free<\/li>\n<li>Blue grape hyacinth work well with other spring bulbs like red tulips or lilac crocus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So if summer is wet and miserable get out your bulb catalogue and plan for spring 2009. Mail order bulbs will arrive in Autumn ready for planting and shouldn&#8217;t be dried out like some shop bought varieties. Mail order also allows you to select from a wider choice of varieties. As a small bulb Grape Hyacinth are cheaper and offer good value when compared to Tulips and Daffodils<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the earliest blue bulbs to show in my garden are the Muscari. At the end of June I received &#8216;J Parkers&#8217; Autumn wholesale catalogue. They claim to be &#8216;the greatest name in Dutch Bulbs&#8217; and I have bought from them for my garden several times with good results. Last season I bought several varieties of Muscari. Whilst the wholesale catalogue is priced without vat the prices and rates for larger quantities make for a reasonably economic priced deal&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/first-bulb-catalogue-for-2009\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-flowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}