NAME:  Wild Blue Hyacinth

OTHER COMMON NAMES:  Blue Dicks / Purplehead / Brodiaea / Brodiea

SCIENTIFIC NAME:  Dichelostemma Pulchellum syn. Dichelostemma Capitatum

COLOR:  Purple

PLANT SEEDS:  Fall / Cold stratify / Outdoors after frost / Indoors weeks before last frost

BLOOM TIME:  April - May

HARDINESS ZONE:  9 - 11

PLANT HEIGHT:  2 - 3'

PLANT SPACING:  2 - 4"

LIGHT REQUIREMENTS:  Sun

SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES:  Average - Dry

QUANTITY:  30 Seeds

OTHER:  The very showy Wild Blue Hyacinth is a flowering herb native to the western US & northwest Mexico. The brightly colored blooms appear in spring with as many as 15 flowers per head on stalks held above the grass-like foliage. They will attract bees, butterflies, & HUMMINGBIRDS to your garden. Typically blooming from April to May, they will bloom in March in warmer climates. The plant’s foliage will die down over the summer after they are done blooming, so don’t worry if they seem to disappear J The Blue Hyacinth is very tolerant of high temperatures, drought, coastal conditions, & soil that is sandy or rocky. They are a great choice for naturalizing, as well as for beds, borders, rock gardens, desert landscapes, & containers.

While these plants are only winter hardy in Zones 9 – 11, they will reseed in cooler climates so you can start new plants the following year, & they develop corms which can be dug & stored over the winter & replanted the following spring. These corms were used by Native Americans as a starch in their diets, & they are also eaten by bear, deer, wild pigs, rabbits, & gophers.