So far my bulbs from Bluestone have been okay. Not the very best, not unviable, dry or abused, but room for improvement. At half off, they are good value for the money.

Thanks for the info! Not exactly a glowing report but ok. I'll keep checking around. I found some other sites: eflowergarden and some others I found.

I don't need anything specatcular.. I'm just trying to find some low prices on hyacinths that will bloom well.

Thanks for the feedback!

The best-blooming hyacinth I've found to date (although it does flop like nobody's business, so it's useless for forcing) is 'Lord Balfour'. Unfortunately, it's also very expensive (I paid $6.50 A BULB), and sold out at the one U.S. source: Old House Gardens. It's also a lovely mauve-lavender-lilac color, but that doesn't matter much when it's not available in the first place.

Other Hyacinths are really variable in how perennial they will be. Some bloom once, spectacularly, then just fade away. Others bloom reliably, if with smaller blooms, every year.

If you want them for forcing, look for varieties recommended for forcing, and unless they are pre-chilled, they will need to spend some time in the vegetable crisper in your refrigerator.

That's really good to know. I'm looking for about 50 hyacinths for the garden.

What varieties are more perennial? I'm looking at:

Pink Pearl
delft blue
Jan Bos
Peter Studsgart
Carnegie
Fondant
Atlantic
Kronos
King of the blues

Thanks so much for your help! Hyacinths are new to me and I thought they were all very perennial.

Daisy

My inclination is to buy bulbs from bulb vendors, and perennials from perennial specialists, if that's any help.

Not every hyacinth is the same. Some bloom early, some late. Pink Pearl, one of the most prolific, is a hardy standby for me. When you look at a vendor's bulbs, the cheapest as compared to others of the same kind are generally the ones that will best persist, in my experience.

Example: If a vendor has one or two hyacinths that are $2.00 per bulb and all the others are $1.00, generally the $2.00 bulbs are rare and hard to propagate or a new cultivar not yet freely cultivated, rather than being a 'better' bulb if all the bulbs are the same size.

If you go to www.hort.cornell.edu and search for hyacinths, you will find a very good resource on hyacinths. Dr. Miller is doing extensive bulb research at Cornell.

Nell

Thank you FoxesEarth!!! That is really good information... to me some of the different varities looked just the same. I like that... for once cheaper is best!!!

Daisy, I've had great satisfaction with Colorblends. You have to buy at least $50 worth of bulbs, but that's not hard! You can split them with a friend if you're not looking for that many.
Sally

THanks so much for the suggestion! And no, it's quite easy to order $50 worth!!!

I would love to get a few items from several places, (some have the hyacinths I like, some have the lillies I like, etc) but the shipping prices at many of these places is just so high!

Thanks so much.

I am into lilies and yes the more expensive bulbs are generally either new on the market and still rare or hard to produce. Lily varieties that are new and scarce can be pricey and in a few years they will be less if they are producers. Blooming bulbs.com has large healthy lilies at a reasonable price and other bulbs. THEY ARE NOT A GROWER BUT NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THEM. Watch where you buy lilies as many cheap outlets can have virus. I personally like to buy from an honest breeder such a Valley K in Canada as she will even tell you the lilies preformance both good and bad in the garden and is in the process of posting this information on her website. The best preforming lilies will be from B & D. They will be healthy, will stand up, to the weather and generally reproduce and these folks stand behind their product. A good producing lily will provide you with a large clump in several years so perhaps a penny more is a penny saved. Some lilies cannot stand up to cold, rain and other conditions so you might want to buy less and consider a local grower with a good product. Hope this helps.

Final report on Bluestone bulbs: In my final order for the season, I noticed about 10% non-viable bulbs in everything except for the tulips and hyacinths. Those are fine. And at 50% off prices, I am willing to accept a 10% non-viable rate. That, and I get TIRED planting so many bulbs, so the non-viable one in each bag is kind of a "vacation". The bulbs which were not viable weren't rotten as far as I could tell--just dessicated.

I got my Tiger Lily bulbs from Bluestone two weeks ago, and being as they were half off/on sale, was a little leery, especially as this was the first time ordering from them.

I was VERY PLEASANTLY surprised at the Tiger Lily bulbs I received-very plump/healthy! These were probably some of the nicest bulbs I've ever gotten.

I will definitely be ordering from them again (even though I've been forewarned their plants tend to be on the small side).

Lisa - and others - I bought the mixed color hyacinth bags from JS last year. The bulbs were about 1 or 2 cm. smaller than those bought singly, but I had never grown hyacinths before and wanted to try them.

Even the smaller bulbs bore HUGE flowers, and the scent is, of course, marvelous! Should I expect blooms this next spring? I always thought they should be treated as an annual, basically, but then someone told me that although might bloom less "tightly" with fewer flowerets, that is how they actually look in nature, and that we breed them to be bigger and bolder. Is this the case?

Susan