The month of January beckons one of our favorite flowers out of the ground and into the market. Here in Arcata, hyacinth season has begun.
Hyacinth are a classic bulb flower with a very passionate fan base (myself included). They are a fascinating bit of flora–each stem has rows of intricate blossoms saturated in deep shades of blue, violet, white, pink, and yellow, each hue paired with a notable, super-heady fragrance. When a hyacinth first begins to bloom, it produces a light floral aroma, but once the flowers fully open up the scent becomes intoxicating and powerful. To walk into a room that contains a vase of hyacinth smells like walking into a flower shop, or arriving on the tarmac in Hawaii, or entering an English garden full of sweet flowers–absolutely heavenly.
Now, to get to the vase full of intoxicating fragrance takes a little bit of work (on our part). It all begins with the crop plan–which varieties get planted and when. Almost all our favorite varieties are part of the "A-line" (with variety names such as: Atlantic, Anne Marie, Antarctica, etc). We also stagger the plant dates–we have "early" varieties and "late" varieties of each color, which ensures that we are growing the strongest hyacinth for every season.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk