Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Grape Hyacinth, Excellent for Naturalizing


The typical form of naturalizing is when people on Facebook warn you about the dangers of fructose.  Yah, I know it's in multiple natural sources and likely you know that as well.  The point is Facebook does not know that and passes the 'news' along as medical information.  There's only one word for people who pay any attention to Facebook medical advice:  dead.


With Grape Hyacinth, the naturalizing is in terms of spreading easily and with no effort from you.  The singular advantage to them spreading that way comes from how early in the Spring they flower.  This takes place before grass really gets started growing again in the new season.  After the Grape Hyacinth flowers, it will take a little time to rejuvenate the bulb from which it comes and then largely disappear, just in time for some heathen to mow the grass to turn it into a green patch of death from which nothing else will grow.

You can get the size perspective from the grass and maybe that gives an idea how tiny these flowers are when they flower.  For me, they are one of the greatest delights of the Spring time.  If you insist on creating a generic patch of green death, it can be mitigated quite a bit by naturalizing it with Grape Hyacinth although that will prevent using any type of weed killer on the lawn after that, unless you want to kill all the Hyacinth.

Note:  if you're aware of what is in Roundup, you won't ever use it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most weed killer do not affect the hyacinths unless they are already above ground.
Most pre emergents do not deter them. I have hundreds of bulbs of many kinds and use various weed killers and they keep coming back as long as I get cold enough for long enough. Tulips are the hardest for me to get to return unless I dig them up and refrigerate them.
Crocus would be another good choice for this venture. As they also can be planted in the lawn and be done before mowing season truly starts.
And why do you go on FB I have never heard a positive thought from you on it.


PS. Measles outbreak in Memphis. Mumps on Harvard campus might even affect grad ceremonies

Anonymous said...

The PS was just to get your dander up

Unknown said...

Some may not be aware of that aspect as a contact herbicidal since it has to touch you to kill you (i.e. when you is a plant).

FB is almost done as I have driven away most of them because they aren't permitted to this stage of life. Maturity out there is minimal and I don't want them in my face.

However, there is a handful I would not see any other way as in some of your Millennials, Kannafoot you have seen, Shady is a loony friend with a good heart but Cat doesn't use it much since she has seen it doesn't deliver much (i.e. the idea of promotion is rubbish unless you pay for it). Promotion is the same hustle Bibi used to get me in there and life has been in the toilet ever since.

Things rarely get my dander up even though it may seem so. Online anger is so infinitely trivial relative to the actual circumstance. I see it everywhere and the only reaction is 'yeah, ok' but here it's more likely to hurt rather than anger.

Unknown said...

Also, this isn't a dander kind of thing as it's not my 'new hot button issue' but rather one of a long list. Maybe some attention here does something ... or not.

Crocus and Day Lilies may be my favorite flowers of all, in part because they're so ridiculously touch. If snow covers a crocus, no problem, it will just wait and then start growing again. They're not actually first but they're still my favorite First Sign of Spring. Day Lilies can take the full roar of the Summer sun and they eat it all up. Plus they're the hardest-working plants in show business because every bloom only lasts a day and then they make another one.

I didn't have any particular problem with Crocus or Tulips either, for that matter, but only the Crocus means all that much to me.

Lily of the Valley flowers earlier than Crocus but the blooms and white and that means death. I think it's even the funeral color for China. I never, ever planted white flowers (larfs).