One of the surest signs of spring is the emergence of bulbs. From tulips to daffodils and hyacinths, once I see those spear-shaped leaves poking through my soil I breathe a sigh of relief knowing winter is on it’s way out. Usually.
When we moved into our new house last March we started and immediate yard overhaul. There was no grass, just a patch of weedy grasses, fescues, and thorns. Among the imposter lawn we found some dark green shoots. They reminded me of a slightly curvy, waxy chive leaf. Whatever they were I knew I did not want them in my flower beds so I grabbed the shoots near the soil and gave a firm tug. I was incredibly surprised that when I tugged the plant finally gave way and I found a bulb at the end of my weed.
After adding a few truck loads of mulch to my beds in June I didn’t see any more of these little weeds. It wasn’t until cooler weather came again in the fall that they began coming up ALL OVER my yard, choking my flower beds. I vowed to do a little research and solve the problem of this mystery bulb weed and eradicate it from my yard. Soon after this vow was made I found flowers emerging from my weed. Mystery solved, the flowers were undoubtedly those of the grape hyacinth bulb.
So here it is, grape hyacinths: the problem and the solution.
Grape hyacinths grow from a small bulb or corm. They are a cool season corm, which means they like the temperatures of both early spring and mid-late fall. These are the seasons in which the corm will send up dark green, waxy, shoots. They get their name from their blossoms, their clustered blue-purple flowers look like miniature grapes. They can be a beautiful addition to any garden, adding spring interest and color.
Here’s the problem. In zones 4-8 the corms naturalize easily. This means that they stay in the ground growing long after the flowers have come and gone. Each corm will produce tiny offsets call cormels.
Each of these little cormels can detach from the mother corm, grow big and strong, and eventually start producing it’s own little family of cormels. So the cycle continues. Now to some gardeners this might sound like a dream. You buy a dozen grape hyacinth bulbs and within a few years you have literally hundreds of tiny, purple clustered flowers.
The simple truth is that a weed is defined as any plant growing where it shouldn’t be. Grass becomes a weed when it creeps in to our flower beds, just like sunflowers become weeds when they start popping up in the tomato row. Normally I wouldn’t be opposed to a vigorous, blooming plant in my flower beds, but there is a problem with these hyacinth. Most of them don’t bloom. Out of the thousands {and I literally mean thousands} of grape hyacinths coming up through my soil I only get a smattering of blossoms. They sit there with their dark waxy leaves, looking like grass has overtaken my beds, and stealing water and nutrients from my showy, intentional plants. This officially moved them into my “weed” category.
Removing grape hyacinth requires a combination of blood, sweat, and tears. Their foliage doesn’t react well to foliar sprays like round up due to the waxy coating. The most successful way to remove these pests is by digging them out, and I mean digging. Since their corms can be firmly anchored in the soil, and due to the fact that their sprouts are not super sturdy, the leaves will separate and leave the corm in the ground if you try to yank them out.
In order to decrease your chances of leaf breakage it’s best to loosen the soil around the bulb with a shovel, grasp the leaves right at the base of the soil, then slowly and firmly begin to pull the bulb out. If there’s a lot of resistance it’s best to stop and loosen the soil a bit more before continuing.
They key to eradicating a yard infested by grape hyacinth bulbs is persistence. Chances are you wont be able to remove all the bulbs on the first go around. The teeny cormels break off easily from the mother plant and can be lost in the soil. The hard truth is that it can take years to have a bulb free yard. I’ve already got the better part of a 25 gallon tree container full of these little suckers, and I know there’s been cormels left behind. It’s an uphill battle, but it can be won with a little perseverance.
But those bulbs are wonderful to eat as appetizers or vegetables. Google “recipe Cipollini onions” – that’s what they are called. Or see http://www.latimes.com/food/lat-onions_jqupkrnc20081104030035-pic-photo.html
These bulbs are a true hyacinth bulb, not a cipollini onion. Although hyacinth bulbs are considered edible, they are not very tasty. That recipe looks delicious, but I don’t think I’d try it with a flowering bulb.
what kind of hyacinth bulbs do you recommend planting?
Do they ever develop little green three sided seedpods? These look like water in my garden but now I am left with the leaves and a stock with what looks like little green seed pods.
Yep, those are grape hyacinth all right. Here’s a link that shows the seed head, just to confirm its the same https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/grape-hyacinth/grape-hyacinth-flower-seeds.htm
I failed to be persistent and so the battle begins again. I did not realize they were also spreading as seed. Going to try the burn method this time.
What’s the burn method? I am desperate to get rid the billions & billions of gh bulbs in my garden! Thank you
So sorry you’re dealing with these little guys. It can be so frustrating! I’ve found the best method is to just dig them out in clumps trying to get all the little cormels. You could definitely try burning them with a weed torch attached to a propane tank. The idea would be that the foliage is destroyed and the bulbs grow weaker and weaker. But this would only work if they’re the only thing in your garden or flower beds at the time as the torch would burn any foliage, friend or foe.
I’m in the process of digging up and throwing away buckets full of these things! My dad had them in our garden growing up, but he must have divided them. They are invasive! I’m keeping some of the biggest bulbs to put in a container to see if the flowers are worth it for size. I don’t want them to “naturalize”. They love it in my area (8b) and the neighbors that thought they were cute have long been over it!
Good information here!
Thanks Janine! I wish you all the luck with removing your pesky bulbs.
I’m pulling them up right after heavy rainfall. I loosen with a shovel and then carefully pull/ loosen till I get the whole bundle out. Repeat..repeat… I hate having to toss so much soil but it’s near impossible with clumps to clean it off and the tiniest bulbs fall off. They are a scourge! I have neighbors who take them as they see me pulling them out! Good riddance!
Oh my goodness I wish you the best of luck! After four years at our new house I found some growing in a corner. I went through that soil with a find tooth comb trying to find every tiny bulb. Hoping I got them all!
To prevent spread by seed you must deadhead after bloom. When the blue flowers turn white, they are seeds which will blow into your lawn. Cut the seed heads off and throw them away. You also have to dig pretty deep to remove the bulbous roots. Learn to recognize tiny bulbs as you’re digging, pull them all out, and discard. I am going to put bender board around the hyacinths I want to keep within boundaries. It will make it easier to know where to dig out the strays.
I have millions of the little darling when I moved in to our bungalow, they are growing in stone’s, we have dug them, massive weed killer them, spoke with them shouted at them 🙄, we just need them gone for good, please can anyone HELP US?, thank you so much for reading this.