I love the small blue spring bulbs. Their pretty blooms and fresh foliage are appreciated while many other plants are just breaking dormancy.
Chionodoxa luciliae (glory of the snow) is in bloom this week in the garden.
This bulb blooms in early spring with star shaped flowers of purplish blue with white centres. This photo is a bit misleading, just like the ones in catalogues. The blossoms are actually a bit more lavender blue than the photo. While this is a dainty plant, the blooms face upward and can be easily viewed without getting on your hands and knees. The foliage is narrow and somewhat grass-like. They look great with the other spring flowering plants. This bulb is very easy care and reliable.
Scilla siberica “Spring Beauty’ (Siberian squill) is another petite bulb.
This bulb has a true blue colour. The flowers are star shaped with darker blue lines down each petal and faint white areas to either side. The overall effect of a swath of Scilla is of a sheet of rich sky blue. This variety ‘Spring Beauty’ seems to have slightly larger flowers than my other S. siberica which has no variety name.
The leaves of the squills are narrow and strap like, and have the advantage of dying back fairly quickly to make room for perennials. This habit makes it easy to integrate them into the garden with other plants, giving longer interest and colour. The bulbs are small and easy to tuck in around the perennials in the fall. You can see how closely these resemble Puschkinia (striped squills), to which they are related .
Puschkinia, Chionodoxa, Scilla and Muscari are all members of the Hyacinthaceae family, and bloom in that order in my garden. The Muscari (grape hyacinth) should be flowering in another week or so.
I find that all 4 of these are very reliable in a northern garden, returning year after year. They are all worth planting in the fall. In the spring, when you see their pretty blue flowers, you will wish that you had planted them in even larger numbers.
The earliest bulbs to bloom in my garden are the tiny Puschkinia scilloides ‘libanotica’ (striped squills). 
The flowers grow in a shady area on the northern side of my house. These bulbs are extremely hardy, and shrugged off being covered in snow after they had grown their full height. The buds of these plants went into suspended animation for a while when mostly covered in snow, but now they are are opening again. They are white with bright blue stripes going to the tip of each petal on the flower. The blossoms are in elongated clusters with multiple blooms. Ordinarily I’m not enthusiastic about striped flowers, but these subtle blooms are enchanting. The leaves are upright, thickened, slightly arched, and a rich green. This small bulb is altogether charming and well worth growing.
I enjoy this bulb, so I planted the all white version last fall, P. libanotica ‘Alba’. (white striped squill). It is a dainty little bulb with an identical leaf habit and similar flower clusters. They live up to their name, since ‘Alba’ refers to a white flower, but while the flowers are pretty, they lose some of the charm that the blue stripes give to the other version. You can see a photo of the white striped squills that tried to bloom in April. That snowy photo shows you their hardy nature.
One benefit to these small bulbs is that their foliage dies back quickly, so they don’t look messy for long after they’ve flowered and they make room for the next round of flowers. Both of these are hardy bulbs for a cold climate, that tolerate some shade. They are early risers, so they extend the season, and give you something to look forward to after a long winter.
Here is some more information about some other blue flowering spring bulbs.
Which Puschkinia do you prefer?
The earliest spring bulbs bring some of the greatest excitement in the northern garden, entirely out of proportion to their dainty size. Their exquisite blooms are eagerly awaited, not only for their beauty, but as a sign that the garden is starting its next cycle.
Despite the fresh spring snow, the Puschkinia libanotica ‘Alba’ (white striped squills) are standing firm. They have temporarily halted opening their buds, since it’s been snowing for over 24 hours. These bulbs are planted in a garden bed on the northern side of my house with many other spring bulbs. I’ve grown the blue striped squills before, but this white variety was newly planted last fall. They are the first of the small bulbs to bloom this spring. I’m not sure if they naturally bloom earlier than the blue variety, or if they have an advantage, being 2 feet closer to the warm house foundation. These bulbs are planted next to the front porch, where it’s easy to see and appreciate them. In a larger garden, or farther from the house, it is too easy for them to disappear from view unless they are planted in large patches. This is a hardy little bulb for a cold climate.
You can see a better picture of how Puschkinia libanotica ‘alba’ looks when its blooms actually open in this later post.
