The impetus for writing all of these gardening blogs comes from this. I have the most wonderful assortment of hyacinth bulbs. They were magnificent last year after I ordered bulbs from Tessalar during our first big lockdown here in Melbourne. I received 30 – a mixture of Apricot Passion, Blue Star, China Pink, Purple Voice, Blue Giant and Yellowstone. I planted them mostly, but not all, in single colours in five different pots – three of them seen here. I didn’t label them (unfortunately).
The bulbs were huge, with lots of baby bulbs attached. This year I needed an extra pot – for both mature and baby bulbs. I wanted to match same coloured bulbs in each pot but hadn’t colour coded them. Result – a mish mash of colours in each pot. Which upon reflection looks good.
But I do want to colour code them for next year so will have to separate them by colour when I lift them. Hence this blog post which is to help me identify the colours currently in the different pots. I’m only going to group by colour not style – I think I have some doubles in the blues and pinks and purples.
Here is a photo of each pot numbered from closest to the house taken around 22 July 2021 followed by a photo of the same just three weeks later, 11 August.
Number One Pot – pink ceramic.
August version – all the perimeter ones were yellow; nine in total. I think that’s a combination of Yellowstone and the misnamed Apricot Passion which is in fact just a darker yellow. There’ one China Pink at 1 o-clock, now expired. A Blue Giant – which surprised me when it emerged – in the middle. I’ll group all my pinks in this pot next year.
Number Two Pot – round terra cotta. As you can see the pinks come earlier.
And here is the August photo. Three pinks at 5 (already gone),6 & 11 o-clock and the rest are all blue I think – which would be Blue Star.
Number Three Pot – round plastic pot
The August photo confirms that these were all yellow – I’ve picked a lot of them.
Number Four Pot – round terra cotta.
August confirmed that the one in the middle was a giant blue, with a smaller blue at 3-o-clock, and what I think is Purple Voice at 7-o-clock.There are four yellows at 1,6,8 & 10-o-clock and a pink at 1-o-clock. There are quite a few that haven’t flowered – too young. Hopefully next year.
Number Five Pot – round, aged terracotta.
August shows the one in the middle is going to be pink – though an unusually late starter. I think it looks as though I have two different sorts of pinks, but that’s not what I recorded when they came. The others are blue and purple.
Number Six Pot – round, pigmented terra cotta.
August shows a giant blue in the middle. Pinks at 1 & 9 o-clock have finished and a third at 5 o-clock is just emerging. A purple at 3 o-clock and blues at 6 & 10 o-clock.
Here they are all lined up – with Otto back in the picture.
And in August – Otto declined to be included – he’s just over to the right.
They look nice jumbled up, but I’d like to mix them up better. The yellows are the brightest and longer lasting. Pinks come early, blues and purple later, giant blues last of all; except for about three pinks, which I think may also be giants. It’s fun seeing what’s emerging. Thus far I have not seen any apricot which makes me think the deeper yellow on the right in this vase must be them.
This year all up I think I will end up with 45 blooms. That comes from the 30 bulbs that were delivered last year. Overall my biggest surprise has been the Blue Giant which I don’t remember from last year. Seen here in all its glory!
Updating this post in late August. First up I discovered some pink striped hyacinths. I don’t know what these are called as I only have one pink name – China Pink. Looking back at the pictures above you can see the striped one quite clearly – but not as clearly as in this picture of the 2nd pot.
And here is another striped one although it appears darker. And is alongside the purple one, which as I recall did not bloom so well.
Here are all the pots, shortly before I moved them to the other side of the garden – the more I do this, the more I think I will have no idea what colour the bulbs are when I lift them!
I don’t think I was careful enough to have the bowls exactly aligned as they were. Here are the first three.
And the last three.
I’ll now leave them to die back; in the process building up those bulbs for next year!
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