The hyacinth has a heady scent and its small colorful flowers enliven the spring in the garden. Plant hyacinths with the advice of Roland Motte, our gardener.
The hyacinth is a bulbous plant that comes in clusters of colorful flowers in the spring. It is hardy and easy to grow. With Roland Motte, the gardener of France Bleu Besançon and France Bleu Lorraine, let’s plant hyacinths!
The origin of hyacinths
It is called Hyacinthus. It is one of the bulbous plants that are planted in the spring, it is the hyacinth. It was classified in the Liliaceae family, and this genus is now part of the Asparagaceae family. Its name comes from Greek mythology. Hyacinthus was accidentally killed, poor thing, by the god Apollo. This one then transformed the drops of blood of this poor Hyacinthus into magnificent little flowers. These plants are native to Southwest Asia, Iran, Turkmenistan.
Force your hyacinth bulbs for Christmas
What we like about the hyacinth is its very decorative, fragrant flowering, and of course we find it in the spring. You can also cheat a little by forcing the hyacinth. That’s how we manage to have flowers during the Christmas period. We will plant them after Christmas in the garden, but the bulb can be very weak. That’s why we’re not sure we’ll have flowers the following year.
Hyacinths are planted from September to December in loose soil, preferably in the sun, even if they tolerate shade after flowering. We will bury the bulb 10 to 15 cm deep. If your soil is really heavy, you put them 5 cm deep. We’re going to fill the hole, we’re going to tamp it well, we’re going to water it.
And when we have buckets of hyacinths already in bloom, we will take advantage of the flowering indoors and then plant them in the garden. The good thing about the hyacinth, as it is very hardy, you can leave it in the ground from year to year when it finishes flowering. We will leave the foliage so that the bulb can redo its reserves for the following year. It is important. Then, we will cut the leaves when they all turn yellow.
– Roland Motte
A heady scent
The scent of hyacinths is so powerful that it is able to make some people’s heads spin. If this is your case, it is better to put the plant out on the window for the night. The sap of the plant is poisonous, but hyacinth flowers are edible.
In the language of flowers, the hyacinth symbolizes benevolence or joy of the heart. So, it would be a shame to deprive you of it. From now on, plant hyacinths.
Find Roland Motte on France Bleu Lorraine and France Bleu Besançon and on his website www.rolandmotte.fr.