Hyacinths

Anyone who has walked round the Keukenhof will have noticed how freely the Dutch use hyacinths, far more than we tend to in Britain. I think we underuse them. Their scent in the garden is intoxicating, and for adding blue to a border there is nothing better.

The perfume is really the whole point of them. A dozen by a path or a doorway will scent the air on a still April day, and because the spikes are so densely packed with florets even a small group reads as a solid block of colour. One word of honesty: what is glorious outdoors can be overpowering in a small room, particularly as the flowers begin to fade.

Top Size or Garden?

We grade them two ways. Top size bulbs carry the largest spikes and are the ones to choose for bowls and for forcing indoors. Garden hyacinths are a grade down, and are what we would use for bedding, edging and window boxes. Both flower in April, and at 20 to 25cm both belong near the front of a border.

Growing Them

Plant in autumn, after the daffodils and before the tulips, once the soil has cooled. Well drained ground, 10cm deep and 5 to 8cm apart, in sun or light shade. Pots want a good compost and watering through any dry spell. Left undisturbed they will go on for three or four years before the clumps want dividing, and the spikes come looser and more natural after the first spring, which to my eye is the better of the two.

Hyacinths for Christmas Day

Ours are not simply ordinary bulbs brought on early. They are harvested sooner than the rest and treated in humidity chambers to advance the flower embryo, a process not finished until the beginning of September. Any prepared hyacinth offered for sale before then is worth a second look. See our prepared Christmas hyacinths.

When Do Hyacinths Flower?

In the garden, April, alongside the mid-season tulips and the later daffodils. Indoors, prepared bulbs potted at the end of September will be in flower around Christmas.