There is something so special about hyacinths. Probably that fabulous fragrance, along with the majestic stance of the plant. Time passes so quickly now, even though, a day still equals 24 hrs. There was the time when, most gardeners and garden lovers, really had to shake the piggy bank and scrape the purse to be able to afford to buy even a single hyacinth bulb. How times have changed. In todays world. Parks and public garden, wherein many thousands of bulbs are planted each year. Unlike us, humble gardeners, who go out of our way to preserve our bulbs. These public bodies, at the close of their growing seasons. Dig the bulbs up and confine them to the compost heap. In my experience, park staff usually pilfer many bulbs for their own gardens. So taking all things in. Is it worth keeping hyacinth bulbs.
I have some that come up each year. Oh! dear. That strong vibrant flower is now more like the common blue bell, but of different colours. Could it be. That we scientist have gone too far. Have we in some way, down graded the classification of the plant.
For instance. Taking a hyacinth bulb. Using a tea spoon and gouging out the base plate of the bulb. This was sacriledge. By such treatment. The bulb would grow and flower, at the same time, tiny bulblets would be produced around the basal rim. This provided the gardener with more new bulbs. Then horticultural science discovered, cell multiplication. This is where. In the lab, parts of a plant are extracted and grown in a medium. Clonning. So? where do we go from here?