Grow sapphires in the snow
Crocuses, scillas, muscari and anemones provide a vibrant shot of blue in sun or part shade
Most miniature bulbs are capable of popping up through the snow because many are found at high altitudes. Crocus sieberi sublimis ‘Tricolor’ pushes through snow on Mount Chelmos in Greece, looking like a boiled egg in a purple bowl. It’s good planted around trees, or under an upright rosemary, or on a sunny edge. Most smaller crocuses, often named forms of C. chrysanthus, are also able to nudge through snow.
The brightest blue miniature bulb is Scilla siberica (Siberian squill), whose bright green foliage makes the cobalt-blue flowers look even more vivid. It’s very hardy, as its Siberian name suggests, and useful in light shade that’s not too dry. It also produces more than one flowering stem, once settled. Position it close to deciduous shrubs, such as witch hazel (hamamelis) perhaps with rich-green Polypodium cambricum ‘Richard Kayse’.
Scilla siberica gently self-sows to form colonies, unlike much more rampant S. bifolia, whose seedpods look like testicles (sorry!). An unrelenting spreader, this one’s best confined to a grassy sward. Grape hyacinth Muscari armeniacum is another rampant spreader (via bulbils) so needs relegating to a wilder area. Its fragrant flowers sustain many bees and its stems last well in a vase.
Not all grape hyacinths are invasive, thankfully, and M. aucheri ‘Blue Magic’ is a clump-forming miniature marvel with bright-blue tiny bells rimmed in white below a paler mop top. The buds are visible well before it flowers in late March or April.
M. azureum is also easy and non-invasive, with a tight cone of buds that open from the bottom. Clump-forming muscari are fussier about drainage, so give them a sunnier edge.
Another candidate for full sun is the multi-rayed Anemone blanda, often in flower by January. They’re known as windflowers, but the blooms only open in bright conditions. They spread by self-seeding, usually opting for slightly shady places rather than full sun. The blue form is lovely in spring and looks wonderful underneath swirling Carex testacea, because the blue flowers enhance shades of warm-brown.
Bright green foliage makes the cobalt-blue flowers look more vivid