A charming autumn- winter blooming species from North Africa, Hyacinthoides lingulata brings an unexpected delicacy to the fall garden. Slender stems rise with loosely arranged racemes of starry, soft lavender to pale violet flowers, lightly scented and fluttering with grace in the autumn breeze. The narrow, strap-shaped leaves appear with or shortly after flowering and persist through the winter. Native to open grassy slopes and rocky places in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, it thrives in sharply drained soil with a dry summer rest. Best suited to a bulb frame, alpine house, or a dry rock garden in regions with mild winters, where it may self-sow modestly in gravelly soils.
Hardy to around USDA zone 8, or zone 9 in wetter climates. Has been long lived for me with temps down to 9 degrees F. if kept on the drier side in a pot under a porch covering or in an unheated greenhouse. A beautiful and lesser-known cousin of the more common bluebells, notable for its fall-winter flowering and gentle, ephemeral beauty.
photo courtesy of Jane McGary
A charming autumn- winter blooming species from North Africa, Hyacinthoides lingulata brings an unexpected delicacy to the fall garden. Slender stems rise with loosely arranged racemes of starry, soft lavender to pale violet flowers, lightly scented and fluttering with grace in the autumn breeze. The narrow, strap-shaped leaves appear with or shortly after flowering and persist through the winter. Native to open grassy slopes and rocky places in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, it thrives in sharply drained soil with a dry summer rest. Best suited to a bulb frame, alpine house, or a dry rock garden in regions with mild winters, where it may self-sow modestly in gravelly soils.
Hardy to around USDA zone 8, or zone 9 in wetter climates. Has been long lived for me with temps down to 9 degrees F. if kept on the drier side in a pot under a porch covering or in an unheated greenhouse. A beautiful and lesser-known cousin of the more common bluebells, notable for its fall-winter flowering and gentle, ephemeral beauty.
photo courtesy of Jane McGary
