Muscari Mountain Lady

If you had delved into the blue grapes in recent years, you would have discovered that you are being inundated with new types of Muscari. There is a large-scale breeding and selection in this well-known bulbous plant. The reason for this is that the blue grape is enormously popular as a bulbous plant in pots in the winter months.

The flowering and growth characteristics for pot culture could be improved in the old assortment, so there was a diligent search for better varieties. The newer varieties for pots also flower much longer and much richer, often with 5 flower stems from a bulb.

Also, and this will surprise you, many Muscari are grown today to cut bunches of flowers in the winter months. I have probably told you before that you can easily pick a bunch of blue grapes from the garden and put them in a vase, but they are now also grown in greenhouses by the hundreds of thousands in the winter months to sell the flowers, leaves and all, in bunches at the flower auction. Varieties such as the Muscari Marleen and the Muscari Carola are extremely suitable for this. Slightly longer stems, slightly larger flowers, a really nice, sweet bunch of flowers.

But among all those new blue grapes I could not find one so far that I saw that it really did better in the garden. Although I have to say that I have not given many of the new varieties the attention they deserve. I will definitely try more of them in the Fluwel show garden.

I have tried the Mountain Lady, a really good grape. Rich flowering, each bulb gives at least 5 flower stems and her heavenly blue with the snow-white nightcap are a pleasure to look at.