Muscari: Perfect Partners for Spring Bulbs
This year, when you’re ordering your fall bulbs, make sure to include some muscari. These carefree bulbs — better known as grape hyacinths — are beautiful on their own, but what muscari really excel at is collaborating. Their compact height and soothing blue hues bring out the best in whatever flowers are nearby.
The Spring Bulb Other Flowers Long to Be Near
Each year we plant thousands of muscari in our New Jersey trial garden. This isn’t to see how well they’ll perform, because, we already know the answer to that. (Always great!). We plant them because they are so good at complementing the shapes and colors of other bulbs.
Tulip Orange Princess with M. armeniacum
What to Know About Muscari
Before we dazzle you with more photos, here are a few more things to know about this companionable spring bulb:
Height: Most varieties are 5 or 6″ tall. Muscari latifolium stands about 8″ tall.
Color: You can choose from powder blue (Valerie Finnis), multi-blue (Ocean Magic and Blue Magic), cobalt blue (armeniacum) and midnight blue (latifolium).
Fragrance: Most varieties have a light fragrance that smells (to me) like grape juice. The best way to appreciate their fruity fragrance is to cut a bunch and bring them indoors. The flowers last for a week in a vase and look sweet combined with primroses and violas.
Bloom Time: The flowers open in mid-spring, at the peak of daffodil and tulip season.
Longevity: Plant the bulbs in a sunny location with well-drained soil, and they’ll return to bloom again year after year.
Planting: Planting is easy because the bulbs are small and only need to be buried 4″ deep. You can plant them beside other bulbs, or layer them right on top of bulbs that you have planted slightly deeper.
Containers: Muscari grow as well in containers as they do in the garden. You can plant them in pots on their own, or use the lasagna method, planting tulips or daffodils first and layering the muscari on top.
Price: We want everyone to know and love this bulb as much as we do. So we are offering 250 Muscari armeniacum bulbs for just $39.50. You read that right. Muscari for all!
Ten Muscari Combinations to Inspire You
Tulip Prins Armin with M. armeniacum
Tulip Purple Flag with M. armeniacum
Daffodil Pueblo with M. armeniacum
Yellow Tulip with M. latifolium
Tulip Van Eijk with M. armeniacum
Daffodil Golden Echo with M. Valerie Finnis
Tulip Oxford with M. armeniacum
Daffodil Jet Fire with M. armeniacum
Tulip Negrita with M. latifolium
Tulip Foxtrot with M. armeniacum
Want to learn more about this goes-with-everything bulb? Read All About Muscari. To see our complete selection, click HERE.
All beautiful
Thanks, Robin.
My muscari bulbs never came up last year. Maybe soil was too much clay in So Cal. 🙁 I’m hoping they bloom this year.
Hi – Most spring-blooming bulbs must go through a winter cooling period before they will bloom. Cold temperatures trigger the changes inside the bulb that are needed to produce a fully formed flower. At a minimum, most of these bulbs (tulips, daffodils, muscari) require 10 weeks at 40°F or colder. In Southern California (hardiness zone 8-10), you can get these bulbs to bloom if you pre-chill them before planting. You can learn about how to do that here: https://www.longfield-gardens.com/article/How-to-Grow-Spring-Bulbs-in-Warm-Climates. Because these spring-blooming bulbs require a chilling period every year, they will never be perennial — as they are in colder climates. You will need to purchase fresh bulbs each fall, chill them, and then plant them. Hope this helps.
Gorgeous photos! Inspiring color & shape combinations! Longfield has the best and affordable Spring through Fall flower bulbs on the market, single and combinations. Besides ordering directly, I have been very happy to find affordable Longfield Bulb packages at my local Costco store. Bulbs for a lovely Spring display and bulbs/tubers for a beautiful Fall display. I tell everyone who gardens to buy Longfield bulbs for reliability and beautiful garden displays. Gardening in the Pacific Northwest can be very wet and we can lose our bulbs fairly easily. Longfield Bulbs are reliable and I can count on the bulbs coming up. Last spring, the neighbors and I swooned over the gorgeous result of planting hundreds of various Longfield spring bulbs in the garden and in flower pots. I also planted Alliums – Globemaster & Purple Sensation. Wow, breathtaking! Alliums add so much excitement in the garden with Hummingbirds, Bees, and Butterflies whirling, buzzing, and fluttering about drinking nectar from the flowers! Also, my Fall ‘Dahlia Designer Color Garden’ bulbs were stunning. It was the first time I tried Dahlia’s and I had great success. Needless to say, the Hummingbirds, Bees, and Butterflies were very happy to have a nectar source so early in the Spring season and late in the Fall season. My garden is certified as a ‘Pollinator Habitat’ by the local Xerces Club and by the ‘National Wildlife Federation.’
Hi Colleen – thank you for the glowing review! So glad we can help you enhance the beauty of your garden. You live in such a wonderful part of the country for gardening. Also happy to hear that you have discovered dahlias and they grew well for you!
Please I will like most of the needed plants in seeds and bulbs as importation of full plants in my country Nigeria is prohibited. Secondly, will the plants thrive in hot temperate zone? Please respond to this as I will have to make my order. I love tulips of different colors. Please help me. I will be happy to receive positive feedback from you. Thanks.
Hi Chris – Sorry, but we do not ship internationally.