Hyacinthus orientalis 'Borah'

brown.mark brown.mark@wanadoo.fr
Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:18:15 PDT
Hi,
I grow Borah and it is not the wild hyacinthus orientalis which I do also have,nor the festival hyacinths which are different again from the roman hyacinths.These latter plants ahve bulbs that form many more flowers from the parent bulb.Festival hyacinths are much more like the wild hyacinthus orientalis with just two or three flower spikes and slightly more delicate I would say.I saw them in a friends garden tw years ago and thought that the white festival hyacinth was very charming.I am on the trail of Sneeuwitje the smallest and whitest of all of these hyacinths.It is essentially the white form of the wild orientalis.I have one or two plants of this for years but it is very disease prone in the wet climate here in Normandy,northern France.I am planting a garden in the south where the climate is very hot in summer and bitterly cold in winter.The wild hyacinthus orientalis loves it! But I can't get a white form to compliment it as yet.i have a dutch friend who is on the trail.He rang yesterday to say that the one grower of sneeuwitje has ditched it beacause of disease!!But recommends white pearl which is nothing like this plant!!Crazy! Any way there are a few more tracks to follow up there and if not I will be forced to plant the white festival selection.I have a friend here in the village who has an etraordinary plant bought decades ago from the Correvon nursey near Geneva in Switzerland.It flowers in february and is even more delicate than any orientalis that I have ever seen.It is definately orientalis none the less,I grow many Hyacinthus,Hyacinthella,Scilla etc.so can compare them all.I have for many years selected from the wild here in the woods a great many fascinating forms of Hyacinthelloides non-scripta,but that is another story...
I should get the Correvon plant to the specialists so that it could be propagated again better.I can't grow it apparently,sadly but it does very well just down the road.I do know of another plant shown in a bulb book,I don't remember which one that is called H.o.chionanthus.This was white and tiny too.I wonder if this is the Correvon plant?
Oh and by the way Borah is a wonderful plant that you can just split up like any easy plant and I have put it in different places.It is a bit bigger than the roman hyacinths and highly scented and pale blue.
I hope all this is helpfull?
I will let you know of the results of my friends search in Holland if you are interested?
Kind regards,
Mark W.Brown.


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