Roman hyacinths, sometimes called French hyacinths (Bellevalia romana) grow between 6 and 12 inches tall with white, pale blue or pink flowers. Roman hyacinths are shorter than the Dutch versions. This spring-blooming flower grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7b through 11 in well-drained soil and full sunlight. Hyacinths exhibit the signs of needing propagation when the blooms become shorter are uneven and the plant height is uneven due to crowding.
Remove the spent hyacinth blooms with pruning shears. Allow the leaves to remain on the plants for six weeks or until they turn brown.
Loosen the soil about four to six inches from the base of hyacinths with a trowel to reveal the bulbs. Take care not to cut into any larger adult or smaller offspring bulbs. Lift the bulbs up out of the ground.
Place the bulbs in a pan lined with damp paper towels as you dig each plant up.
Grasp the bulbs and pull each smaller bulb off the original bulbs in the center or on the sides of the clusters. Each bulb should have some roots at the bottom. Discard small bulbs without roots.
Loosen the soil in the planting bed with a hoe to a depth that is three times as deep as the largest bulb is tall.
Add 2 cups of bone meal and 5 tablespoons of 10-10-10- soluble fertilizer for each 10 foot square section of the planting bed. Work the bone meal and fertilizer into the soil thoroughly.
Make a hole in the planting bed for each bulb that is two to three times the depth as the bulb is tall. Space the holes three to six inches apart. Insert the bulbs and pull the soil around them. The roots should be in the bottom of the holes with the bulbs' noses pointing upward. Cover the bulbs with soil and pack the soil down tightly with your hands.
Water the transplants thoroughly after planting them. Supply the bulbs with 1 inch of water per week in dry seasons and throughout the growth and blooming seasons.
Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch on top of the hyacinth bed to minimize temperature fluctuations. When tips emerge from the bulbs in the spring, rake the mulch away from the hyacinths.
Things You Will Need
- Pruning shears
- Paper towels
- Bone meal
- 10-10-10 soluble fertilizer
- Garden hose
- Add compost to a new hyacinth planting bed and work it into the top 18 inches of soil to break up heavy soils.
- Do not fertilize hyacinths in the spring after flowers appear. This can lead to bulb rot and shorten the flowering period of the plant.
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