AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
November, 1911 
Of all bulb flowers of early springtime, none are more beautiful than the lovely fragrant Hyacinth 
The Hyacinth 
By Gardner Teall 
Photographs by Nathan R. Graves 
VER since the lovely Hyacinth was introduced 
by seedlings and hybrids from the Oriental 
Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) of the 
Levant, as long ago as the year 1590, it has 
held a warm spot in the hearts of all garden 
lovers, not alone in the affections of the 
Dutch florists, who have brought it to such perfection, but 
quite as much in those of American amateurs, who have 
found it a flower of surpassing beauty, color and fragrance 
in the early spring garden. Likewise, the Hyacinth has 
come to be one of the favorite bulb plants for indoor bloom 
—probably the most popular one of all. 
Of Hyacinths there are many varieties, from the exquisite 
little Amethyst Hyacinth of Europe, with its brilliant azure 
of pellucid hue and its exquisite fragrance, to the great, fat, 
wonderful ones that have helped to make the gardens of 
Holland famous and gorgeous. There is not a more beau- 
tiful flowering bulb to be found for the purpose of planting 
for naturalistic effects for lawn, field, meadow, wood, hill- 
side or rockery. The traveler in Europe finds joyous de- 
light in coming upon the Hyacinth in its native haunts. One 
will find it in Greece and in Sicily, and sometimes in Capri, 
wild upon the mountain-top. The flower takes its name 
from Hyacinthus, son of the Spartan king, Amyclos, who 
was killed when playing quoits with the god, Zephyrus, 
through the treachery of the jealous Apollo. The old 
Greek legend has it that from the blood of Hyacinthus 
there sprang up a flower to bear his name, on the leaves of 
which appeared the exclamation of woe, AI, AI. There is 
no reason why we should feel that we live in so practical an 
age that while we busy ourselves with the prose of flowers 
we have not time for the poetry of their love. Indeed, it is 
hard to understand how anyone who loves a garden and the 
plants therein can fail to take an interest in everything, 
legendary or otherwise, pertaining to each of them. I know 
one possessor of a perfect garden who has placed hither and 
thither among his beloved plants little quotations from the 
poets, classic and modern, as well as labels to mark them. 
When his brilliant Hyacinth beds are in tioom they are 
marked, as one might guess, with this quotation from old 
Omar Khayyam: 
I sometimes think that never blows so red 
The rose as when some buried Cesar bled; 
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
Dropt in her lap from some once lovely head. 
It happens that this friend’s Hyacinths are planted around 
and among his choicest roses, and, of course, with the pass- 
ing of the fragrant flowers of spring the quatrain remains 
appropriate to the charms of the roses that unfold their 
wonderful buds throughout their season. 
Single Hyacinths invariably succeed better, although 
many amateurs are just as successful in raising double ones. 
Whites, blues, pinks, reds, purples and creamy yellows are 
the colors of the Hyacinth, but of them all the white is the 
most beautiful, though amateur gardeners are apt to make 
the mistake of passing it up for the more showy varieties. 
