Delayed gratification
Easy on the eyes and the nose, hyacinths provide a one-two punch of gardening pleasure. Plant now to enjoy these delightful blooms this spring.
Photos by L.A. Jackson
With autumn in full swing, the urge is strong among gardeners to plant for a better future by filling available nooks and crannies in the landscape with popular spring-blooming bulbs such as daffodils, crocuses and tulips. But while these three bulbous beauties rightfully deserve space in any outdoor setting, for years my personal favorite has been hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis).
Closely related to lilies, hyacinths provide a one-two pop of pleasure for gardeners. First, there is color—the clusters of flared, tube-like blooms perched on short, stiff stalks range in a variety of hues that rival the rainbow. Planting sweeps of hyacinths in a single color will certainly add a special elegance to a spring flower bed, but I’m a big fan of the visual cacophony that comes when their mixes of reds, blues, whites, pinks, purples, oranges and yellows fight it out for attention.
However, even with their coats of many colors, you will probably smell hyacinths before you see them. Sweet and strong, their heavenly scent rivals a rose’s nose tickle in its full summer glory. That’s why smart gardeners often plant these pretties close to entryways, walkways and decks, or even in elevated pots. Indoors, when used in cut flower arrangements, hyacinths will fill a room with their heady perfume that delightfully announces, “Spring has sprung!”
If you have waited until now to plant these pretties, that’s a good thing. Hyacinths need nearly two solid months of constant winter chill to bloom properly, so backyard growers in western and central parts of the state can delay until late November, while it’s fine for coastal gardeners to hold off until even the end of the year.
Hyacinths should be settled into a sunny, well-draining site of average garden soil—too much enrichment, especially when it comes to nitrogen, can encourage taller yet floppier stems. Plant the bulbs 4 to 6 inches apart and about 5 inches deep.
Hyacinths fare better in the ground over the long run than tulips, which are mostly one-season wonders, but they don’t naturalize like crocuses and daffodils can. Instead, they linger, meaning their flower power diminishes over time. But hyacinths are easy to find in fall nurseries and fairly cheap, so planting fresh bulbs every two or three years will help preserve the sight, and especially the scent, of these spring treats in your garden.
November in the Garden
• If Jack Frost comes calling to lay an icy dusting on your Brussels sprouts, collards, kale or spinach, roll out the welcome mat. A light covering of frost actually improves their taste.
• Have you been battling rust disease on your hollyhocks? Clip off all the old stems now and discard them to help prevent the disease from overwintering and causing problems again next year.
• Keep diseases and bad bugs away from dormant roses by raking spent foliage, fallen blooms and summer mulch out of the planting bed, and replacing it with a fresh, 2- to 3-inch-thick winter mulch.
Tip of the month
As the growing season winds down, now is a good time to step back and think about what you can add to your garden to make it an even greater pleasure next year. Plants, of course, are obvious inclusions, but also give thought to more permanent accents such as fences, walls, water fountains, statuary and vases. These types of constant features, whether used as focal points or playfully tucked away in flowing foliage, help give a landscape year-round visual pop with minimum maintenance.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.