Muscari ... and some relatives 2010

[mark smyth]

Many blue flowered bulbs now pushing up in my garden

[Ragged Robin]

David thanks for the link...some potfull to die for...

Heavenly 

[Miriam]

Leopoldia comosa is in flower. A common species here.

[ashley]

A beautiful photograph Miriam

[Ragged Robin]

A beautiful photograph Miriam

I agree 

[cohan]

Hyacinthella nervosa is common in the area of Petra,
 interestingly it appears in all pastel colors and not in its usual blue color.

fascinating thread--esp love the habitat shots--and this is maybe the most exciting so far! but that may be my perversity for always liking the species which is atypical in colour....

[Verena]

Some pictures of Muscari azureum, Bellevalia pycnantha and Tulipa altaica flowering in my greenhouse at the moment. Iīm not sure if it really is B. pycnantha, at least I bought it under that name. Itīs a pretty plant anyways, lightly scented and very frost resistant (it survived -18°C on my balcony last winter).

[olegKon]

Your doubts about  the Bellevalia have ground. I'm afraid it is not B.pycnantha. Looks a Muscari ffor me

[Maggi Young]

Verena, see this photo of Bellevalia pycnantha in the Pacific Bulb  society site:
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Bellevalia/Bellevalia_pycnantha1_JL.jpg

[Verena]

olegKon and Maggi,

Iīve looked at pictures of Bellevalia pycnantha on the web before and always thought that my plant "somehow" looked different, but I also read that cultivated B. pycnantha often was lighter in colour than the wild forms. However you are right, that it looks more like some sort of Muscari since the shape of the flowers is different. What species might it be? I bought it from rareplants.co.uk a few years ago and it has been an easy plant to grow ever since. It flowers every year but is very slow to increase. This year it finally seems to have produced two small offsets. Another bulb I bought under the name of Bellevalia pycnantha last year (this one is much more likely to be the real species) has split up into many small bulbils over the winter and hasnīt produced any flowers this spring. Probably it doesnīt like my growing conditions. Itīs the plant you can see on the picture in the same pot as the false B. pycnantha.

[Maggi Young]

Verena, I think your Muscari is a form of M. neglectum......
see this photo from a muscari website....http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~hennessy/index.htm .... photo is here:
http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~hennessy/images/neglectum.jpg

[Tony Willis]

Hyacinthus orientalis  which this year seems to have benefited from the cold and stayed quite compact

[Armin]

Very lovely hyacinthus Tony!
Quite often wild species are more charming then cultivars

[Ragged Robin]

I agree, it's really lovely - how long will the flowers last and do they have a good scent Tony?

[Tony Willis]

They last perhaps ten days if it is cold and they have a terrific scent in the evening just like cultivated ones