In focus: hyacinths
"Mood Indigo"
Sarah Raven imagines coming across a swathe among the sun baked rocks in Turkey
AT the moment, my vegetable garden is filled with the characteristic, sweet, slightly orange-blossomy scent of hyacinths. They line the path, in rivers of colour, between my clumps of rhubarb.
There is 'Jan Boss', an intense, deep, bright pink, bordering on magenta. 'Woodstock', which is a beautiful rich purple, is the best shade I've ever grown. It is the colour of beetroot juice as it runs out over a white plate, and it stays that way until it collapses about a month after it opens.
Rhubarb and hyacinths are good companions. As 'Jan Boss' comes into flower, I take the rhubarb forcers off the plants. The brilliance of their pink, forced stems counterpoints the hyacinth: the whole thing looks and smells like a sugared boudoir.
The hyacinths we now grow are descendants of the wild, Middle Eastern Hyacinthus orientalis. Its delicate, hanging bell-shape flowers are porcelain blue and highly fragrant, smaller and fewer on the stem than the common garden hybrid.
Imagine coming across a swathe among the sun-baked rocks in the hills of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. They flower there from late February to April, creating a scent, as sweet as that in paradise.
From these roots, hyacinths have been bred and selected over generations since the Ottoman Turks. Many hybrid varieties are spectacular, but it is important to be selective with colour.
The blue ones, for example, are difficult. I want to grow the really dark ones. At Great Dixter, Christopher Lloyd has the best dark blue I've seen, and I've been trying to find it ever since. It's called 'King of the Blues' and is deep navy: a real indigo all the way through the flower, rather than fading to a mid-royal blue at the centre. In this variety, the colour gets deeper, rather than washing out as it ages.
I've ordered 'King of the Blues' from catalogues several times, but it has never come up anything like as well. I've had to settle for 'Blue Magic', one step down in colour intensity, but a dark blue with a powerful scent. Don't even think about planting powder-blue hyacinths, even the famous H. 'Delft Blue' - they all look like lavatory paper.
Also steer clear of the so-called orange 'Gipsy Queen'. I'm passionate about real orange in the garden, but this flower is unlike any real shade of orange I know, it's the colour of skin covered in too much foundation; a sort of pink with a tan overlay.
I also dislike the lilac purple 'Amethyst', which seems over sophisticated and too highly bred, and I avoid the pale pinks.
They have a powerful fragrance but they too resemble fancy Kleenex. Instead, go for the vibrant pink 'Jan Boss'. And whatever you do, don't buy any doubles - they look like dwarf feather dusters stuck into the ground.
The whites are mostly pale, creamy-white. If you love them, make sure you have a clump of each of the flowering groups, to extend the flowering season.
In most catalogues, hyacinths are divided into Groups 1 to 3, according to when they flower. Group 1 are earlies, blooming from mid March, Group 2 are normal, flowering from the end of March and Group 3 are late, for April blooms.
H. 'City of Harlem' is my favourite - not white, but the colour of vanilla ice cream.
I love it planted with smoky-purple and crimson plants, such as with Salvia officinalis 'Purpurea', and Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon'. You will have to prune the sage by the end of this month, but it will provide an excellent foil while the hyacinths are in full flower.
As well as the garden hybrid varieties of hyacinth, I've been growing another type for the past couple of years, which is much closer in form to the original H. orientalis. They are multiflora hyacinths, with many fine flower stems errupting from one bulb.
Like the wild hyacinth, they have smaller, fewer flowers, arranged sparsely on the stem. The best form is the white H. 'Snow Princess'.
The only other colours available at the moment are pale blue, or pink, but they are pretty, delicate things. They marry more easily with the primroses, scillas, wood anemones and fresh spring foliage as it first emerges from the ground.
Where to buy
Avon Bulbs, Burnt House Farm, Mid Lambrook, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5HE (01460 242177). www.avonbulbs.co.uk
De Jager, The Nurseries, Marden, Kent TN12 9BP (01622 831235/fax: 01622 832416)
Peter Nyssen, 124 Flixton Road, Urmston, Manchester M41 5BG (0161 747 4000).
Growing tips
Hyacinths, as with most bulbs, like good drainage and full sun. They thrive on
being baked in the summer. Plant them at about 3in deep on a bed of grit at
least 1in deep, if you have heavy, poorly drained soil.
Once they have flowered, allow the leaves to die right down. Don't be
tempted to clear them up until every leaf is completely brown. This allows the
leaves to photosynthesise and feed next year's flower.
Hyacinths should come up year after year. Propagate by dividing clumps in
the early autumn. It's worth giving them a potash feed in the early spring. This
helps with root and bulb formation and will encourage them to stick around.
-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001