Heirloom Fall-Planted Diverse

Scott’s first-grade teacher Mrs. Trickett introduced him to these curious little woodland wildflowers that have been grown in gardens since colonial days. Decades later he planted a few in a shady spot in his garden where they’ve multiplied happily. Over finely-cut, soft green leaves, their flowers dangle like old-fashioned Dutch pantaloons, charming all who see them. Formerly Dielytra and Corydalis, 7-10”, zones 3a-7b(8bWC), nursery-grown for us in Tennessee. Chart and care.

If these extra-early cups of sunshine have failed you, try ours! Blooming even earlier than snowdrops, they multiply eagerly in light shade (their seeds are spread by ants) and are so animal-proof that the Elizabethans called them Little Yellow Woolfes-bain. 3-5”, zones 5a-7b(8bWC), from Holland. Chart, care, and learn more.

One of our greatest treasures, this is the original, blissfully fragrant, wild white freesia that naturalizes happily in Mediterranean climates with mild, dry summers. It’s also “entirely at home in the South, returning faithfully,” says Scott Ogden in Garden Bulbs for the South, so expert gardeners may want to try it there, too. Smaller than modern forms, 6-12”, zones 8a-8a(10bWC), grown for us in California. Chart and care. If you’d like to be notified when it’s back in stock, sign up for an email alert.

One of our perennial bestsellers, this odd little bulb has nodding flowers of maroon and dusky rose (or occasionally white), and each is checkered! Grown since colonial days, it prefers light shade and cool, moist sites. Our bulbs are wax-dipped to preserve their vitality. We forgot to plant some until February one year and they still bloomed! Aka guinea-hen flower, 10-12”, zones 4a-7b(8bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

If you like traditional snowdrops (and who doesn’t?), you’ll love G. elwesii. Don’t let the “giant” in its name put you off. It simply looks like an especially robust, well-grown G. nivalis and blooms even earlier. Animal-proof, 6-8”, more heat-tolerant than G. nivalis, zones 5a-8a(9aWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

One of the most popular snowdrops for over a century, this strong-growing beauty holds its flowers on unusually long pedicels which, in the words of the great E.A. Bowles, “causes them to swing to and fro in a slight breeze,” making it especially graceful and “easily recognized even from a distance.” It’s been years since we last offered this treasure, so if you want it, get it while you can! 5-7”, zones 3a-7a(8aWC), from Holland. Chart, care, and learn more.

Voted best of all by experts at an RHS conference in 2004, ‘S. Arnott’ was sent by Scotsman Sam Arnott to collector Henry Elwes sometime before 1922. It’s a “tall, handsome, well-proportioned chap with attractively rounded blooms,” writes Naomi Slade in The Plant Lovers Guide to Snowdrops. It’s “very easy to grow” and “increases reliably,” and its “sweet strong scent” makes it “a great cut flower.” Aka ‘Sam Arnott’, 8-10”, zones 4b-7b(9bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

Expensive but worth it, this is NOT the puny, cheap impostor you’ll get virtually everywhere else, but Southern-grown corms of the authentic, deep magenta heirloom that’s winter hardy to zone 6 and multiplies happily year after year. A wild, perennial glad, it blooms with graceful, orchid-like flowers in earliest summer as it has since colonial days. Bill Welch of Texas A&M calls it “a delightful plant often found in old cottage gardens,” Christopher Lloyd planted it lavishly at Great Dixter, and our customers rave about it! Aka G. communis var. byzantinus ‘Cruentus’, 24-36”, zones 6a-9b(11bWC), from California and Louisiana. Learn more. Chart and care.

As easy to grow as the much more common blue forms, the white Spanish bluebell has been lighting up shady gardens for hundreds of years. In 1927 landscape architect Stephen Child recommended it for stylish white perennial borders, noting that it was “very attractive” in the Dutch garden at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Aka wood hyacinth, squill, late-spring blooming, 15-18”, zones 5a-8b(10bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

Rugged and fool-proof, this easy classic thrives virtually everywhere. “The stately Spanish bluebell is found in all old Southern gardens,” Elizabeth Lawrence wrote, and it’s hardy north to zone 5, too (or even 3, some say!). ‘Excelsior’ dates back to 1906 and is the most vigorous and floriferous form. Aka wood hyacinth, squill, late spring blooming, 15-18”, zones 5a-8b(10bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.