Muscari bulbs in a garden setting

Meet my favorourite spring bulb: muscari armeniacum. And intense vivid blue bulbs in clumps of attractive green strappy leaves.

I have gone muscari mad in the shade garden this year. I think I planted 100 last year and just loved the effect. So I ordered 200 more and have added them in long thin drifts all along the edge of the two shade garden banks.

Of all the spring bulbs I grow, I think I get the most value out of these little plants.  Their flowering season is very long, and even when the blue has faded and you are left with a papery stalk, that rattles in the breeze and lasts for months and months.

I’m already looking further beyond the boundaries of the shade garden and think I might add more in the nearby beds to extend the colour and the interest.

I really think that bulbs have been the revelation of this garden; for people who have challenging climates then you can’t go wrong with bulbs. You plant in autumn and leave them be. They do all their growing underground and pop up in spring just when you are yearning for colour.  And they require no work. No watering, not pruning, not even chopping back. I just leave them to die naturally and forget about them until next year when I am delighted and amazed all over again.