Botanical name: Muscari armeniacum    Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

Grape Hyacinths are so named because their clusters of small, bell-shaped, cobalt-blue flowers look like clusters of upside-down grapes. There is a famous planting of them at the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland which is known as the Blue River. This is a dense planting of Muscari armeniacum that winds through the Gardens, past trees, shrubs, and other spring flowers. Year after year, this is one of the most photographed scenes in this park.An additional benefit is that all Muscari have a lovely fragrance. The more you plant, the more fragrance you get. Conical racemes of slightly fragrant, tightly packed, bell-shaped, cobalt blue flowers having a thin white line around the rim of each bell are borne on 6-9" scapes. Each bulb produces 1-3 flower scapes. Clumps of narrow, fleshy, somewhat floppy, basal leaves up to 12" long appear in autumn and live through the cold of winter. Flower scapes emerge in early spring.

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The flower labeled Grape Hyacinth is ...