Catch the drift
Scilla siberica is a welcome addition to any garden and it doesn’t cost the earth, writes David Overend.
Spring is full of small, sturdy flowers that bring colour after the dark months of winter. Some are vibrant and strident, stars of beds and borders (and containers, of course) at this time of year – others, such as snowdrops and the dainty wood anemone, are more muted, more restrained in their hues, but are still more than welcome amid the more-common yellows, purples and blues.
And there, hiding in the corner, is another small spring arrival – Scilla siberica, an early-blooming perennial that may just reach a height of eight inches.
It’s perfect for a small rock garden where it can revel in the ideal conditions of a well-drained, fertile, sandy soil and enjoy a spot where it can make the most of any sun that’s going.
Plant the bulbs in the autumn and divide any big clumps after the blooms have faded and the foliage has died down (early summer should be fine).
Scilla siberica “Spring Beauty” is one of the most popular members of this family of delightful little gems with narrow basal leaves and erect stems bearing racemes of star-shaped, flat or bell-shaped, blue flowers.
For gardeners who aren’t over-keen on the colour blue, preferring, instead, to stick to white, there is Scilla siberica “Alba”, which looks best when planted in drifts, lighting up a shady woodland corner or decorating the ground beneath deciduous shrubs where it can show off before new foliage cuts out the light and overshadows it.
These brilliant little flowers – which are so very easy to grow – have tough stems topped with up to five nodding, bellshaped flowers in March and April which are accompanied by slender, strap-shaped, glossy, mid-green leaves.
Siberian squill are ideal for naturalising. If you aim for a natural-looking display, throw handfuls of bulbs over the ground, planting them where they fall. Alternatively, plant them 10cm deep in late summer or early autumn in any moderately fertile, humus-rich, welldrained soil or in a container.
For the best of both worlds, plant a few “Alba” in among drifts of “Spring Beauty”. And add a few more of S bifolia, a paler blue, which is also a very good naturaliser.
Scilla siberica are relatively cheap to buy, so there’s no need to skimp on planting.