Hyacinth Are Back!

In purple silhouette a palm lifts from a vine-wreathed plinth
Against a sky whose cloudless calm is hued like hyacinth.
                                                              -Clinton Scollard

Hey flower lovers, good news at Sun Valley. The hyacinth crop is back in action.

Purple "Atlantic" and pink "Anne Marie".

Hyacinth are a classic bulb flower, and have a very passionate following. Why are they so special? I think it is because they have a very defined season so they don't lend themselves to be grown year round, unlike our lilies, tulips and irises.

The two varieties that are most in demand is the purple "Atlantic"and the pink "Anne Marie", we are seeing great length and rich saturated blooms. Last January we dug into the meaning and history of hyacinths in our post Hyacinth Heaven.

Yesterday I went out to peek at the crop. We have done a redesign on our hyacinth hoop houses, making the air warmer and moister. Its pretty intense stepping in to the hoop house. I was able to get a few exposures with my camera, before the lense and my glasses completely fogged up.

Steamy hyacinth

Welcome to the hyacinth jungle

We have created the ideal climate at our Arcata farm to grow these beauties. Their foliage is very green and the stem length is 12-14 inches.

One factor to always remember with hyacinth is that they have a different set of "Care and Handling Instructions" than any other flower. With hyacinth you want to keep the white basal plate at the bottom of the stem intact, don't cut this off! This will keep the nutrients flowing to the flower and lead to an excellent vase life. We even had special stickers created to keep everyone in the know.

Do Not Cut The Stem!

I grabbed a few stems from the cooler to make an arrangement or two. Taking advantage of their strong stems I filled a short 5 inch cylinder vase with some pebbles, then placed Atlantic and Anne Marie hyacinths around the outside, working my way to the center. I did this while they were still very fresh, so as they started to develop and really bloom they were snug in the vase. It was amazing how much water these drank the first day in the vase. To accent it all, I added a light blue ribbon bow, thinking this would be perfect for a baby shower.

Baby Shower Flowers

 Two flowers that go together very well are tulips and hyacinth. Their contrasting shapes really play off each other well. Here I combined our Atlantic blue hyacinth with our World Legend tulip. The tulips natural stretching was accentuated by stones in the bottom of the vase, so it looks like tulips with a hyacinth "collar".

Tulip and hyacinth arrangement

Hyacinths are really a fun flower to get up close and personal with...and I haven't even mentioned their scent.


I can’t turn a smell
into a single word;
you’ve no right 
to ask…

From Jo Shapcott’s  Rosa odorata

Let hyacinth warm up your winter, since we have a wonderful spring happening in our hoop houses, just for you.