Among the first bulbs I planted in this garden were a handful of the so-called Roman hyacinths. Five small bulbs went into the ground in autumn of 2021. I kept them watered occasionally and tried to avoid getting my hopes up too high. I had my doubts whether they would like the dry, gritty soil, whether they would get enough winter chill, whether they would come up blind or quickly quit coming up at all.
Instead of disappointing me, they have been a delight and an ongoing surprise. This is their second spring.
They’ve not only come back two years in a row,, the bulbs themselves have naturalized and decidedly multiplied. I have plans to dig and divide them this year.
Perhaps their success should not come as quite such a surprise. They are bulbs of the Mediterranean region, and I’m finding that Mediterranean plants grow particularly well here. They seem to love the heat, the sun, and the gritty, sharply drained soil of my new garden.
Botanically, the Roman (or French) hyacinths are Hyacinthus orientalis spp. albulus, a subspecies of H. orientalis, from which the many densely flowered, brightly colored garden hyacinths are descended. I have been confused about the correct taxonomy; but apparently it is indeed more than a little confusing, with H. orientalis ssp orientalis being considered synonymous, according to the Pacific Bulb Society website. It appears that the geography is also rather ridiculously muddled, as I see multiple references to “French Roman hyacinths” online!
All this for a darling little plant about twelve inches high!
Historically they have grown in old gardens across the southern United States for centuries, naturalizing so successfully that they are still sometimes discovered growing wild on old properties.
My own bulbs came from Old House Gardens, a supplier of heirloom bulbs. Their stock, in turn, came from the Hortus Bulborum, a historic flower bulb conservation garden in the Netherlands.
What is special about H. orientalis ssp albulus?
The intensity of their fragrance would alone be reason enough to grow them. Like so many other fragrant flowering plants, the beauty and strength of the scent is sometimes lost or at least reduced in the more heavily developed varieties.
They are also most definitely perennial bulbs, coming back year after year, and indeed multiplying, as I’m finding this spring.
Besides, the bees adore them.
In any case, they are not at all interchangeable with the regular garden varieties of hyacinths. They are more fragrant, much smaller, much daintier, with fewer florets. They grow like little wildlings. Their color range includes only a basic selection of blue, pink, and white.
Mine are a lovely, deep, china blue.
They are apparently much better adapted than I anticipated. The Dave’s Garden forum shows them growing from South Carolina westward all the way to California, where (according to reports) it can grow safely without requiring winter chill.
But they have also taken our repeated cold snaps beautifully. Temperatures this winter have ranged from 25 F to 70 F (-4 C to 21 C)—often within 24 to 48 hours. And instead of withering in the wind or freezing to mush, these small hyacinths have gone on flowering for weeks and are only now going over in a graceful, springtime sort of way.
I can’t say enough good things about them.