Last year I planted a few grape hyacinths in pots to bring indoors for forcing. On the one hand the experiment was not terribly successful, as the leaves and flower stems got leggy very quickly. But on the other hand I do now have nice long stems for a vase!
As you can see, I have bought myself ‘The Almanac’ for 2023 by Lia Leendertz and am enjoying dipping into it. Annette sent me a link a few weeks ago to the monthly podcast Lia does in cooperation with a perfume company: ‘As the Season Turns‘. It is a lovely way to spend half an hour with a cuppa and I definitely recommend it. The new episode for March should be available on March 1st. 😃
My hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) smell wonderful and although we have another dusting of snow at the moment (and an icy cold wind!), spring doesn’t seem quite so far away now.
Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme every week, rain or shine. I look forward to seeing what she and the other contributors have found to share today. 😃
Hope you all have some warm sunshine this week!
🌷☀️🌷
Words and Herbs 
Oh that’s such a gorgeous blue Cathy 😀 I’ve bought Lia’s almanac yearly since the very first edition and usually read the relevant chapter at the beginning of each month. As well as her podcast she also brings out a most interesting free weekly newsletter via Substack which you can subscribe to.
Thanks Anna. I think I am subscribed to it already, but will check. It is lovely to follow the seasons in this way. 😃
They do suit your vase.
Thank you Rosie! The vase was bought with snowdrops in mind, but I have only had about three snowdrops come up in this garden so far!
Beautiful grape hyacinths….can’t wait to see these but we are buried in snow for now so I will enjoy yours.
We have had a bit more snow and ice here too, but I am also hoping to see these outside soon. 😃
The grape hyacinths are lovely, Cathy! I planted the bulbs here years ago. They didn’t do much but, on the rare occasion, the bulb foliage shows up and, more uncommonly, sometimes a single bloom.
I suppose one bloom is better than none! I have varying success with bulbs as the rodents eat or disturb them, but Muscari are usually pretty reliable.
This used to be a common perennial. By about 1976, it had become so profuse within the back garden at my mother’s home that I was instructed to eliminate it. I tried for years, and became so intent on accomplishing this seemingly simple task that merely containing a manageable colony of it was no longer an option. Eventually, my mother told me that she liked it, and wanted a bit of it to stay. That would have been useful information years earlier. Rather than eliminate the last few that remained, I pampered them. Then, . . . they died. Seriously! They somehow survived all those years that I tried to kill them, but died when I tried to cultivate them! A few more years later, nearly two years ago, while renovating the garden, I found a small clump that had both survived and evaded detection for a few years. Most of them are canned here now, and will eventually inhabit my garden, where they can naturalize and even become invasive if they want to.
Ha ha. An excellent example that plants have a sense of humour and were getting their own back! 😉 Glad there were some left though. Hope you do not regret planting them in your own garden now.
Oh, I intend to not regret it. Heck, I might enjoy watching them getting bullied by the lily of the Nile and canna. Did you ever hear about the not pink iris?https://tonytomeo.com/2017/09/12/the-colors-of-karma/
I think your experiment worked very well. Very pretty and a nice precursor to spring. I imagine a ring of fairies dancing around the base!
The fairies don’t show up when photographed, so you must be very perceptive Amelia. 😉😜
Love it!!!
I’ve never had success with my hyacinths. Mine are usually stumpy.
That’s a shame as this colour is so nice in spring.
Forcing bulbs is so worth the effort because at this time of year, we are SO READY for a breath of spring!
Oh yes, I am ready for spring too Eliza. But I do still have lots of unfinished winter projects to get done!…..
They need some winter chill therefore not much grown in our region, so I especially enjoyed seeing your pretty examples.
Glad to share, and hopefully there will be more for vases later on, when the ones planted outside flower too. 😃
Isn’t it strange that without you even mentioning the name I guessed at the Perfume Company. I happen to have bought my first little bottle from them only a few weeks ago. I like your arrangement with the book in the background.
Ooh, how lovely Noelle! The perfumes all sound wonderful, and I like their concept. I rarely wear perfume but would be tempted to try theirs one day.
Cathy, this is lovely.
Thank you Alys! Spring is so near now. 🌷
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The grape hyacinths look splendid in that elegant little vase. I’m glad you enjoy the podcast. You know thanks to all my creative little projects winter has just been flying by and for the first time I’m grateful it’s not quite over yet. In fact it’s very cold again. The dogs are huddled up by the fire and I shall join them in due course. 😁
It’s funny, but I feel the same way. I still have a few winter projects to get finished and although it was fabulous to have three sunny days outdoors, the return of icy winter temperatures was fine with me! (The north wind is pretty awful though!)
The grape hyacinths are gorgeous, Cathy. And I really love the way you use the lovely photos as a backdrop. I was happily surprised to find that I have access to “As the Season Turns.” I’ve bookmarked it and will tune in. 🙂
Glad you are going to listen to that podcast. I will probably listen to a few of the older ones in between too. 😃
The vase really does suit the muscari Cathy, even if you did buy it with snowdrops in mind! I used to buy muscari to pot up for the Coop but stopped doing it a couple of years ago – can’t remember if it was because they didn’t do especially well though. Hope you get more milder days to get on with your winter tasks – I have been trying to get some of those finished off too!
I don’t think I can do anything else outside yet except perhaps sow some radishes under cover. But the mild interlude last week was an opportunity to get the grasses cut and get ahead. My hopes for a warm March are fading!
Brrr – the UK is due some cold days and nights with probable snow this werk, but mostly in Scotland and northern England. Then temperatures are due to pick up again. Are you expecting snow too?
We are currently having snow flurries and that cold wind has come back! I am ready for spring now, but it is taking its time this year. Some of my hellebores have been scorched by a nasty frost we had last week. So I must see what I can find for a vase today….
Some of my earlier flowering hellebores were blackened by the frost in December – hope not too many of yours have suffered 🙄
Hyacinths smell so good to me – nice work!
Yes, I like the scent of them too. 😃
Oh so pretty! I agree that the vase is perfect for the flowers. Spring is on the way!
Thanks Beth! Yes, spring can come. I am ready for it now!
Beautiful!
Thanks Chris!