Muscari Latifolium
My plant profile as to how Muscari Latifolium performs in these northern climes
Perhaps you may see Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) as a humble plant. However when I saw how Latifolium performed in our garden I was very happy that I had found room for this little beauty. In actual fact back in 2005 this one was selected as bulb of the year and described as the Marge Simpson of the garden. You may wish to read what garden writer
In our garden we have this Spring flowering plant in the woodland, where it has been for a few years. Also last Autumn we planted them in a new bed along with Hellebores, which may eventually take over and smother out the Muscari, in the meantime we will just enjoy them.
Look how the tuft of pale blue above the very deep shade just brings the plant alive. You can see why Marge Simpson came to mind.
For years Muscari did very little for me, so many of the varieties in our garden were rather uninspiring, and the following years the flowering of them diminished greatly, not Marge though, she goes from strength to strength.
This year Latifolium came into flower on the third week of March, a little earlier than usual due to the very warm early Spring which we had.
Hardiness – Fully hardy
Position – Sun/part shade
Height – 15/20cm
RHS Award of garden merit
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Also flowering in the woodland area of the garden at the same time as the Muscari is the very handsome Rhododendron Taurus and the gorgeous Camellia Donation.
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A couple of weeks ago with little else to do, off I went with camera in hand to photograph some of the coastline around Aberdeen. Don’t be fooled with the blue sky’s, it was a very cold morning. I did take about one hundred pictures of which fifteen are of acceptable quality.
This is the ruin of St Fitticks an ancient church and graveyard. set just back from an area known locally as the bay of nigg. First recording of a church on this site was 1199.
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Bay of Nigg
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Another view of The Bay of Nigg.
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Here we have the old foghorn, well maintained but hasn’t been in use for several decades.
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This is the view a short distance further up the coast road.
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Aberdeen is regarded as being the oil capital of Europe. Looks like I chose a quiet spell for taking my pictures. I was hoping to catch the oil rig supply boats and the ferries leaving for Orkney, Shetland and also those heading for Norway.
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If you happen to leave a comment I will be sure to visit your site and do the same
Kininvie, lol, fantastic I like grotesque, I have never done the lol thingy before, feels so wrong. I’ll wait and see if Donald gives me an invite.
Hello Alistair,
I’m really going to have to disagree ( as usual) over that Muscari. For me, it just goes over the line between a flower that has been improved by breeding and one that veers towards the grotesque. That rhododendron OTOH, is fabulous. I fear it wouldn’t survive my climate though; I’ve lost enough as it is. Great to see the Aberdeen coastline….maybe you should show us some pictures of the Donald Trump complex?
Hi Catmint, right enough there was no people showing up in my pictures. It was very early on a sunday morning and really too cold to be walking about at the coast. I did pass another couple of nutters on a narrow coast path, dodgy looking pair.
Hi Alastair, I had no idea there were so many variations of Muscarii. I have quite a few that pop up each year when and where they feel like it. I do love them. I read what Elspeth Thomson had tos say – Bulb Idol is a great idea! Your muscarii are large and quite stately.
I love the photos of the Aberdeen coastline. I am intrigued that there were no people to be seen in any of the photos, it seems quite deserted. Australian sightseeing is often like that, I love it. cheers, cm
Hi Jennifer, bulbs which produce flowers in Spring often look untidy after the blooms have gone over. I am sure our Muscari leaves have died back long before Autumn arrives.
Hi Alistair, My only complaint about Muscari is the foliage. When I had them in the garden a few years ago, they always seem to produce a mess of foliage in the fall that I found untidy looking. Was I too hasty to come to such a negative snap judgement? The camellia and rhododendron are very pretty. I like the mix of pink and red. As always, I enjoyed seeing a little of Aberdeen.
Not so warm here at the moment Andrea, only about 48f, hope it heats up soon.
Hi Alistair, the first and last time i saw grape hyacinth was in Turkey, and I really took pains to let the lens of the camera to peep through the small clearance of someone’s fence. I asked someone in our group of its name, and i immediately fell in love with it at sight. Your plants flower early due to early warmth, while ours flower early for early rains or early decrease in temperatures. And thank you too for touring us in your part of the world.
Thanks SB, Aberdeen has quite a lot going on, but you know how it is, the grass is always greener—-
Thanks Masha, the Muacari behaves well here but it may well be invasive in your part of the world.
Those muscari are lovely, but are they invasive? I have read that they can be difficult to get rid of, so I have avoided them so far… Your camellias are beautiful, but the rhododendrons are simply stunning (they are never that happy here…).
And thank you for another sight seeing tour, I enjoy them very much.
I so enjoyed this post. The muscari are lovely as are the colors on your camelia…stunning. And what a treat to get photos from your recent journey. What a beautiful place you have shared with us!
Much needed heat in the sun would now be fine Rosie.
Yes Linnie there are other things in the grass to look out for, especially hypodermic needles.
Yes Greggo I am well chuffed with the Donation.
definitely worth a spot of its own – such a wonderful looking grape hyacinth that it puts others in the shade. Enjoyed the views and the crisp, cold air. Have a friend who works the rigs and lives in Aberdeen – we always end up exchanging weather news
I really chuffed to bits you left a comment on the elm post. lol. Cracking good photos and post, Alistair. I would like a donation of that Donation.
As a grower of petite (scrawny) muscari I am just so impressed with your two-tone models, very nice. But the church and cemetery photo is the best, so cold and bleak and haunting with those long shadows. Seems like there would be a few things growing besides grass there. Looked like a very pleasant trip, thanks very much for taking the camera along!
I forgot to look for this bulb this year and I really need to put it on my wishlist as I admired it last year aswell on your blog Alistair. Good to see the sun shining up there in Aberdeen!
Hi Alberto, I did show the stony areas of Aberdeen’s coast, there is also sandy beaches which extend for many miles.
Carolyn, The major oil fields are about 100 miles off the coast of Aberdeen. The city since 1970 has been bustling with oil related jobs. So many of the offshore workers live in Aberdeen and surrounding areas, there are non stop helicopter flights carrying the workers back and forth, Aberdeen has the busiest heliport in the world. The unemployment I think is the lowest in the UK, in spite of this Aberdeen has been close to bankruptcy in recent times, some blame our council for bad management, others say that Aberdeen gets short changed from the UK government.
M. latifolium is definitely my favorite muscari. It’s unusual, beautiful, readily comes back, and grows in the shade. Very fun to see photos of the coast near you. I had no idea that Aberdeen is the oil capital of Europe. What goes on there oil-wise?
Hi Alistair! I laughed when I read about marge Simpson! I like muscaris a lot too.
You took some stunning pictures of the coast, what a peaceful place I should be! Beaches with pebbles always remind me of sweet memories of when I lived in Brighton, they have smaller pebbles in there though!
Yes, take a chance Crystal.
Donna, our Muscari are also still hanging on. We didn’t have one warm day in the month of April.
Wow! The shots of the coastline are fantastic! I also love your variety of muscari. The foliage is much plumper and the flowers more beautiful than the common type in my own garden, though ! confess I love it also!
I really love your photos this post, Alistair. Great camera work.
What a beautiful color the muscari is! It does appear to go to the same hair stylist as Marge Simpson. 🙂 Your garden is beautiful. I enjoyed the beautiful photos of the coastline as well.
I’m convinced now … Everything DOES grow better in your garden! My Muscari never looked anywhere as impressive as yours 🙂
Thanks for sharing your Aberdeen coast photos! They are great shots.
I have recently begun to see the positive side of Muscari too Alistair. Your Camellia is stunning, so many blooms. I’m very jealous of anyone who has acid soil. The coastal shots are excellent, I’ve never been to your part of Scotland but it looks stunning.
Alistair I do love muscari and let them grow first in clumps and then they love to move all over in spring bringing needed color…this one is one of my favorites that grows in the front walk garden. Mine are still gorwing strong in many areas due to the cold weather…Your coastline is spectacular…what a history…oil capital wow…very busy place but very peaceful as well.
I’ve got a pot of muscari that I was wondering where to plant. Now I know, I’ll be planting it in my woodland area. Thanks Alistair.
Thing is, should I be planting anything whilst we are in a drought ? Think I might risk it. After all, we’ve just had our wettest April for 130 years.
I hope you get the weather for it wellywoman.
Hi Lona, I did mention the name of the Rhododendron is Taurus. Another quirky thing which wordpress does for me is—if you take your cursor over my pictures the name of the plant appears, isn’t technology marvellous. I have to admit all the other Muscari which we have had in the past looked scrawny.
Hi Helene, the Rhododendron Taurus is an early variety, we still have many to open yet, don’t know the names of most of them. I remember when the series of the seven dwarves were first introduced, most of them were a bit peely wally. I also hope May shows an improvement.
Thanks for the visit Astrid, I haven’t seen the Simpsons very often but I can see where they are coming from. Pity the Rhododendrons dont work for you, we are always moaning about the cold in Aberdeen, yet, so many plants just love it here.
Nell Jean, I was also thinking of trying the white Muscari.
Hi Jane, some bulb plants do get messy looking, the tugging of leaves which I am also guilty of seems to weaken the plants. You wouldn’t need your flip flops very often up here Jane.
Last week a client asked me to rid her front garden of Grape Hyacinth (the common type) in favour of box hedging. It broke my heart to dig up her swathes of blue bulbs that I thought looked quite beautiful…sigh. My Oh doesn’t like them either, moaning that they look messy, (I don’t let them get messy just by tugging out a few of the leaves every now & again) The Marge Simpsons are quite stunning, I shall look out for this variety to please Mr TG in the future.
Off to get my flip-flops, your beach snaps have warmed my cockles xx
Lovely photos as always Alistair!
I can see why you like the way M Latifolium has behaved, really works well for you in those pictures.
Muscari has never been prolific here. This winter I discovered white muscari, which I planted with blue violas. I will be trying that again and I’ll at M. latifolium to my order.
Hello Alistair!
I have muscari all over the garden. It’s hard to get flowers in a nice shade of blue so I appreciate the muscari every spring. I googled Marge Simpson Images and sure enough – her hair is definitely modelled on muscari 🙂
I have attempted rhodos in my yard but they always freeze out and die due to the vicious west winds we get here. It’s a pleasure to see such a vividly coloured one as yours. The camellia was also lovely.
Your tour of the Aberdeen area was a treat!! I especially liked the old church and cemetery (imagine a site from 1199!!) and loved the photo done through the arched doorway. Thanks for a great post!
Astrid
Hi Alistair, your red rhododendron is a stunner! I wish I had room for one that size. My dwarf rhododendron Dopey has found the weather in April too cold I think, and has still refused to start flowering. No sign of any flowers opening yet, never seen it this late before. Lets hope for a warm and sunny May, enough rain here in London now 🙂
Hi Alistair. I so enjoyed the tour of the coastline and the old church. How amazingly beautiful. You just have to tell me the name of that red Rhododendron. I just love it!!!! How gorgeous!.
Your Muscari are so pretty with the two colors of blue in them. They look so big compared to my little scrawny ones. LOL! Have a lovely weekend.
I love muscari. Mine have been slow to get established but I noticed that they have started to spread to the other side of the path so they are obviously happy now. You have some beautiful scenery around you. I have only driven through Aberdeen on the way to a brief stop at Peterhead ( my husband had to do some work there) but we were lucky enough to have some free time and took a drive out to Grantown on Spey and Dufftown. It was beautiful. We plan at some point a long road trip around Scotland. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
Thanks for the visit Mary, hope to see you again.
You live in a beautiful place. Thanks for taking us on a tour.
Yes b-a-g thats right, we are often saying, voice like a foghorn that one.
I had a similar idea. I’ve heard people talking about muscari as if it was a weed so I planted it in the same bed as an over-enthusiastic anemone.
The red rhododendron is a stunner – I’ve only seen pink and white.
Your beaches are really clean considering that Aberdeen is an industrial port.
I’ve heard the term fog-horn used to describe loud people, now I know what the real thing looks like.
Thanks Cathy and Steve, I am surprised that Aberdeen council have not demolished the old church completely. So many other treasures in the city have been destroyed without much thought given to it.
Bernieh, I would say the Rhododendron Taurus is my favourite one of all.
When we were youngsters Soren we would get on our bikes and head for the foghorn just to hear it blast from close up, very eerie and wonderful.
I love that old foghorn; so very like a His Master’s Voice gramophone player!
Some of the harbour views I recognised, but “reversed”; we had dinner at the Silver Darling once (I think I spotted it in one of your pictures) and had the most amazing view across towards the headland at the South of the harbour. (Mind you, the dinner was overpriced and “all right” but not very good.)
Loved the landscape shots. Great view! I’m afraid I drooled a little over the Muscari, and that gorgeous Rhodo and that stunning Camellia. Simply beautiful!
Alistair, your posts are always filled with such a fabulous variety and wealth of information. Our muscari are similar but a bit different variety, but like you, I do love these little pretties. But what really drew me in on this post was the photograph of the church and graveyard…. such desolation. What an amazing place to visit and moving photograph. Wonderful post!