Common Name: grape hyacinth
Type: Bulb
Family: Asparagaceae
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 0.50 to 1.00 feet
Spread: 0.50 to 0.75 feet
Bloom Time: April
Bloom Description: Yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy, Fragrant, Good Cut
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Plant bulbs about 3” deep and 3” apart in fall. Flowers emerge in early spring. Keep ground moist during the spring growing season, but reduce watering after foliage begins to die back. Plants of this species go dormant in summer, and they generally prefer hot dry soils when dormant. This species naturalizes by self-seeding in favorable conditions, but, unlike most other species of Muscari, produces few bulb offsets. Although winter hardy to USDA Zone 6,
'Golden Fragrance' will usually survive USDA Zone 5 winters if given a good winter mulch.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Muscari macrocarpum, commonly known as grape hyacinth, is native to Greece, the Aegean Islands and western Turkey. Conical racemes of tightly packed, tube-shaped, bright yellow flowers bloom in early spring atop scapes rising to 8” tall. Flowers of this particular species are more tubular (longer and thinner) than the rounded grape-like flowers of most other species in the genus. Scapes rise up from somewhat floppy clumps of narrow, fleshy, basal, gray-green leaves (to 12” long).
This genus name was formerly viewed as a subgenus of the genus Muscari which comes from the Turkish name recorded by Clusius in 1583. Possibly from the Latin word muscus in reference to flower aroma.
Specific epithet from Greek macro meaning large and carpa meaning fruit in reference to large winged seed capsules.
'Golden Fragrance' is a very fragrant, yellow-flowered cultivar.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Provides spectacular drifts of color when massed in open areas, around shrubs, under deciduous trees, in the rock garden or in the border front. Also mixes well with other early blooming bulbs. Popular container plant. Also forces easily for winter bloom.