Hyacinths, with their brazen colour and scent, are
not for everyone but Sarah Raven is a confirmed fan
Hyacinths are an out-of-place spring bulb. Up they spurt,
robust, rubbery-stemmed and attention-seeking, among
delicate flowers, clouds of blossom and lacy prettiness.
There's
something about hybrid hyacinths that's a bit breast-enlarged
and spray-tanned, and I know plenty of gardeners who have
banned them from their patch.
However, the right varieties,
used in the right place, are among the best spring flowers
you can grow. The beetroot-purple 'Woodstock' is my favourite,
but you must also look out for the deep indigo blues. 'Peter
Stuyvesant' is fantastic: dark, rich and delicious, and
I love the brilliant pink 'Jan Bos'.
In the more usual pale
blue and white range, search out the multiflora or Roman
types. These have five or 10 stems, not two or three, each
one fine and delicate with widely spaced flowers. This makes
them more reminiscent of their wild cousin, the bluebell,
than the garden hybrid hyacinth.
They are more expensive,
but well worth growing and good value with their succession
of flower spikes over three to four weeks. I planted lots
of each of the above-mentioned in the cutting garden 10
years ago, and they've come up reliably here year after
year.
As well as lasting well in a vase, hyacinths are scented
so they make ideal cut flowers. Some would say, it's
a coarse, air freshener perfume, too heavy and strong,
but I can't resist it. I love a vase by my bed, with
a drop of bleach in the water to make the stems last
as long as possible.
If you arrange your hyacinths in
a narrow, deep, stem-supporting vase, add bleach and change
the water every two or three days (adding more bleach each
time), they last almost a fortnight.
Hyacinths are not just
good for cutting; they also look marvellous in a pot, forced
to flower early inside. Or grow them bang outside your
front door and let them flower at their natural time, so
you can emerge out into the world through their cloud of
perfume.
When growing any bulb in a pot, put in a layer
of crocks (broken pots), or a good inch of grit at the bottom
for drainage. For pots growing outside, use a soil-based
compost lightened with about one third grit, finishing
off with a half-inch layer of grit on the top to prevent
mosses and liverworts forming a carpet.
For pots staying
inside, use a non-peat-based compost, or in a pot with
no holes, use bulb fibre which includes charcoal and grit
in the right proportions.
For growing hyacinths indoors, you
can buy prepared bulbs that have been pre-chilled, but
you can also do this yourself.
Putting them in a paper bag
in the bottom of the fridge for four to six weeks has the
same effect. Hyacinths need at least 10 weeks in the cold
(below 10C) to flower well. They also need a period in the
dark so that the root has time to develop before the light
pulls the flower and leaves from the bulb.
If you've got a
cellar, garage, or dark potting shed, this is easy enough
to do. Once the sprouts are an inch high, bring the pots
in and they'll be in flower in about ten days.
To stop the
stems and leaves flopping about, it's a good idea to create
a nest of twigs to support them. But that's not all you can
do. If you've got people coming to supper, dress your hyacinths
up into a fantastic table centre.
Buy a bunch of Anemone coronaria in matching or
contrasting colours and poke them into the pot of hyacinths.
My favourite duo is the pink 'Jan Bos'; with the similarly
coloured A. coronaria 'Sylphide'.
Bunch three or five stems together
and thread through the hyacinths, adding three or five
of these groups evenly spaced through the bowl. Make sure
the compost is moist.
Once
the anemones begin to flop, take them out and put them
into deep water to drink overnight, and in the morning
replace them among the hyacinths.
If you want to do the
whole forcing process yourself, it's too late to guarantee
a table centre piece in full flower for Christmas, but
you could always cheat and buy some in.
Hyacinthus 'Jan Bos' and Anemone coronaria
'Sylphide' are available from www.sarahraven.com
Reader offer
Gardening readers can buy 12 fragrant
hyacinth bulbs for £12.98.
Send cheques/postal orders made out
to Telegraph Garden to Dept TE 568, PO Box 99, Sudbury,
Suffolk, CO10 2SN. Telegraph Garden, or call 0844 573
6015 for credit/debit card orders. Please quote ref.
TE 568 when placing your order.
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