The Grape Hyacinth 'Feather', 'Muscari armeniacum', a fall planted bulb, produce unassuming flowers that add a sweet, fragrant touch to the spring garden. This is a very peculiar cultivar originating from the species found around the Mediterranean Sea. What we see when this plant 'blooms' is not really the flowers (they develop later, in May-June) but the highly branched, purple flower stems. The main flower stalk can easily become 14 inches tall, but it seldom stands upright. Such a rarity deserves a conspicuous spot where several bulbs are planted together.
Grape Hyacinths are a hardy, no-care, early spring flowering bulb. They are excellent as cut flowers, for rock gardens, beds, borders, and under trees and bushes. Muscari often multiply and spread over the years.