Northern Shade Gardening

Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba' (glory of the snow) white flowers with fern

Here’s a pretty combination of blue and white bulbs. The Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Alba’ (white glory of the snow) and Scilla siberica (squills) have the same flowering schedule, and show up right after the crocus.

Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba' (glory of the snow) closeup of flowers

Chionodoxa luciliae commonly comes in a very pretty blue colour, a little lighter than the Scilla. I enjoy the colour, but the white ‘Alba’ are attractive, too, and also coordinate with blue bulbs. The Chionodoxa flowers face upwards, unlike the Scilla, for maximum impact. These groups have filled in nicely, and returned with more flowers. It’s heartening to see bulbs that improve in appearance each spring, rather than slowly fading away quickly over a few years like some do.

Scilla siberica (squills) with blue flowers in May

Scilla siberica are a pure saturated blue. The little blue flowers face downwards, but since both the back and front of the petals are brightly coloured, you can still get an overall effect of a a little piece of the sky. They are very charming and easy to grow, spreading slowly over the years. Since the squill foliage  disappear after spring is done, they don’t interfere with any other plants.

Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba' (glory of the snow), Scilla siberica (squills), and Puschkinia

Both of these small spring bulbs bloom at the same time as the blue and white striped Puschkinia libanotica, which you can see at the back of the photo. The Puschkinia start first, then the Chionodoxa, and the Scilla join in last. All three of these spring bulbs are reliable, withstanding the cold of zone 3, and returning with strong blooms in early to mid spring. After the flowers are through, it doesn’t take long for the foliage to store up energy for next year, and then die back. Since the leaves are small, they are not as noticeable as tulip and daffodil leaves after the flowers are done, while you wait for them to whither. I find that planting them next to ferns or later perennials hides the decaying leaves quickly.

Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba' (glory of the snow), Scilla siberica (squills) and Pulmonaria

Both the Chionodoxa and Scilla handle part shade well. In the picture above, they are planted adjacent to some Pulmonaria ‘Majeste’ (lungwort), which you can see on the right. It should have it’s own blue flowers in a few weeks.

Chionodoxa luciliae 'Alba' (glory of the snow) white flowers with Dryopteris

You can see some of the fern fronds between the white blooms, like greenery added to a bouquet in a vase. These Chionodoxa luciliae are planted beside a Dryopteris expansa (spiny wood fern). which is semi-evergreen. The fern keeps some fronds over the winter, so it has ready made greenery to pair with the glory of the snow, as the other ferns are still emerging.

Scilla siberica (squills) with Matteuccia struthiopteris ferns

These squill flowers are resting on the new fiddleheads of the Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern), pretty blue with alien looking green and brown. The fuzzy looking fiddleheads will unroll very quickly now, growing a metre or so (3 to 4 feet) in a month.

Scilla siberica (squills) with blue flowers

Here you can see the true blue of the Scilla siberica. Both of these bulbs are diminutive, at only 10cm to 25 cm (4 to 10 in) tall, so they look sweet in groups, but a little lost individually. They  provide some early flower colour as the first perennials are barely starting to bloom. They look very natural, so you can plant them in a more formal garden bed, or under the trees for a woodland setting.

Here is a gallery showing different photos of the squills and glory of the snow. You can click on any small photo to see it full size.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica striped squill flower closeup

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica (striped squills) flower after my spring crocus with charming blue stripes on a white background. From a distance, the effect is of a pale blue flower, but up close you can see the perky blue stripes on both the back and front of the light coloured petals.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica striped squill with Pulmonaria

Here the Pucschkinia are flowering with the fresh foliage of the Pulmonaria (lungwort). The stripes of the squills look good with the speckles of the perennial Pulmonaria leaves. The bulbs also come in an all white version, Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica ‘Alba’, if you don’t want blue in your colour scheme (but that’s hard to imagine). I have some of the all white Alba next to the striped flowers in another garden section.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica with Scilla and Chionodoxa bulbs

These  are planted with some other flower bulbs, some pure blue Scilla (squills) and some pure white Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Alba’ (white glory of the snow). I really like the blue, white and blue striped bulbs together. The striped squills are at the back of the picture, with the blue squills on the left, and the glory of the snow at the front. The glory of the snow more commonly comes in a very pretty blue colour, which I have planted in some other garden beds.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica white and blue striped flower bulbs

In the photo above you can see that the striped squills have a slight resemblance to their distant relations, the hyacinths, although they don’t have the scent of their larger cousins. The groups of 5 petals face out in all directions around the stalks, which gives them a full look. Each bulb sends up multiple stems, so the whole patch gives a good display.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica striped squill in flower

These Pucschkinia are getting a sun bath, as the light filters through the bare branches of a tree. They handle shade fairly well, but seem to appreciate the part sun they get here before the tree fully leafs out. Another grouping gets an eastern exposure, with just some morning light, and they do very well, too. I have another cluster of them planted on the north side of my house, with almost no direct light, and they have been flowering well for a number of years. In the deeper shade they do get a little floppier after a few days.

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica pretty spring flower bulbs

It works well to plant these flower bulbs next to some perennials that come up later, so they fill the bare areas in spring, and the rising perennials will hide the decaying bulb foliage. I have some striped squills next to some ferns, that are slower to come up, and also next to some Epimedium (bishop’s cap).

Pucschkinia are robust bulbs that return reliably, even after a zone 3 winter. Some springs they get snowed on, and they just shrug it off, and keep flowering. They really don’t require much in the way of care, other than being planted in the fall, and then the pretty blue striped flowers appear in spring for a number of years. Here is another article showing Puschkinia.

carpet of Crocus vernus in purple and white

Crocus vernus (large Dutch crocus) make a great display when planted in a large group. These crocus have come back with more blooms and larger than last year. The abundance of colourful petals makes me smile every time I observe them out the window, or stroll to this side of the garden.

Crocus vernus 'Remembrance' with pollinator

Gardeners aren’t the only ones who appreciate crocus. Many pollinators have been buzzing around these flowers, including lots of bees and bumble bees. This one carries lots of pollen on its fuzzy back.

Crocus vernus 'Remembrance' closed and open purple flowers

Crocus vernus ‘Remembrance’ is  a solid, saturated purple, with a bright orange contrast of pistil and anthers in the centre. I’ve put a shot of the closed buds at the top of the photo, and the open flowers underneath. This area is shaded early in the day, so the petals unfurl by late morning. Even the closed petals are quite pretty, but the open petals really fill the space. This colour looks great next to the striped purple crocus.

Crocus vernus 'Pickwick' flowers closed and opened

Crocus vernus ‘Pickwick’ is a light purple, with darker purple stripes. Like ‘Remembrance’, they have large showy flower cups. When the sun is lower, and the petals are folded upright, they look a little more blue, like the top part of the photo.These are great looking crocus, and coordinate beautifully with the solid white and purple crocus. Adjacent to golden crocus they really pop.

Crocus vernus 'Striped Beauty' open and closed flowers

Crocus vernus ‘Striped Beauty’ is very similar to ‘Pickwick’, with purple stripes. In the garden they are pretty much interchangeable. My ‘Striped Beauty might be a little lighter in colour. As you can see at the top of  the picture above, the closed blooms appear a bit more blue than purple.

Crocus vernus 'Silver Coral' open and closed flowers

Crocus vernus ‘Silver Coral’ have white petals, with a dark purple base. When they are folded up, the purple is more noticeable, and coordinates well next to the purple ‘Remembrance’. These look terrific combined with the solid purple and striped purple crocus.

Crocus 'Yellow Mammoth' in sun

Crocus ‘Yellow Mammoth’ is the sunniest, brightest gold colour. These are extra cheerful, and look super combined with purple crocus.’Yellow Mammoth’ opens a little after the the Crocus vernus start, but have a good overlap in bloom time. They will be the last crocus flowering.

crocus flowers under branches in spring

The crocus are planted under a lilac. They are spaced in between perennials, which will take over the flower show in another month. Despite being planted in pockets, they make a full arrangement of blooms, looking like a series of bouquets. You can barely see the narrow green leaves, with central white stripe, because of all the flowers. The ‘Yellow Mammoth’ were just coming out in the picture above, but now they too are large bouquets.

Crocus vernus in purple and gold with Crocus chrysanthus at back

This photo shows some Dutch crocus at the front, packed with flowers, with the Crocus chrysanthus (snow crocus) behind. Because of the way the deep  snow melted this year, the snow crocus blooms were a little delayed, so the both the early snow crocus and later Dutch crocus bloomed around the same time, making for a good bulb display.

Crocus vernus large dutch crocus mixed flowers

The crocus colours coordinate so beautifully together to make a lively spring show. What a glorious start to the flower parade. Many of my other plants have more subtle flowers, or beautiful leaf patterns, but the crocus start the season with a cymbal crash, saying winter is over.

You can see more Crocus vernus pictures from last spring. In the garden section I’ve shown here, there are around 200 of the Dutch crocus and 200 of the snow crocus. While across a narrow path, there is another group of 200 crocus bulbs that I planted last fall. They may only bloom for three weeks or so, but the vivid display in early spring is well worth all of the fall bulb digging.

I’ve made a gallery to show a number of Crocus vernus pictures from this spring. You can click on any of the small photos and they will enlarge to full size.