Hyacinths

 Are your hyacinths up?  Mine are.  I just love these spring flowers!  Hyacinths are spring bulbs that can be recognized by their dense compact spike of bell-shaped flowers.  They are highly fragrant, and they come in a variety of colors:  white, peach, yellow, pink, purple, lavender, and blue.

 
Hyacinths are native to the Mediterranean region and Africa.  There's an interesting story from Greek mythology about the origin of hyacinths.  Here's the story:  Two gods, Apollo (the sun god) and Zephyr (the wind god) liked a Greek dude named Hyakinthos.  One day, Apollo decided to teach Hyakinthos how to throw a discus.  Well, Zephyr got jealous.  So what did he do?  He blew the discus back so that it hit Hyakinthos in the head and killed him.  (Dumb god!)  From his blood, grew a flower.  Apollo, grief-stricken, named the flower after him.

 Hyacinth bulbs should be planted in the fall before a frost.  Where I live, September is good.  Dig a hole 6-8 inches deep.  Set the bulb in the hole, making sure the neck is up.  Then cover with soil.  Space the bulbs 4-6 inches apart.  Make sure you give them plenty of water after planting.  In the spring, after the plants have finished flowering, you can cut back the flower stalks (or not, I sometimes leave mine on).  Just make sure you allow the leaves to die back naturally so the nutrients can go back into the bulb.