Purples & Blues

Scilla siberica is one of those quietly brilliant early-spring bulbs that makes a garden look effortlessly considered. Its vivid blue, nodding flowers are carried on fine stems above narrow green leaves, creating a light, natural effect that sits beautifully in grass, beneath shrubs, or among gravel and stone.

Ideal for naturalising, this small bulb is best planted in generous drifts for a painterly sweep of colour just as the season begins to wake.

• Colour: Blue (Purples & Blues)
• Flowering: March–April
• Height: 20cm
• Best for: naturalising, grass, gravel and rock gardens, containers, underplanting shrubs
• Pollinator friendly: Yes

Allium 'Party Balloons' brings a buoyant note to late spring planting schemes, lifting neat, airy globes on slender stems for a finish that feels both architectural and light. It sits beautifully among tulips and cottage perennials, threading height through borders without heaviness, and it makes a rather composed cut stem for simple vases.

Plant in autumn and allow it to settle in quietly; by late spring into early summer it provides a refined punctuation of purple, with a crisp, upright habit that looks especially smart repeated in groups.

• Seasonal interest: flowers from May–June
• Form: elegant globe heads on upright stems
• For: borders, containers and cut flowers
• Wildlife: pollinator friendly; typically avoided by deer

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Blue Star' is a beautifully traditional spring hyacinth, prized for its dense, perfumed spires in a clear sky-blue, delicately traced with deeper blue veining. Rising neatly above fresh, strap-shaped foliage, it brings a poised, polished note to borders and containers alike.

Plant in autumn and allow the bulbs to settle through winter; come March and April, 'Blue Star' offers a refined flourish that sits particularly well beneath roses and shrubs, or arranged in pots by a doorway where its fragrance can be properly enjoyed.

• Colour: Blue-purple
• Flowering period: March–April
• Height: 25cm
• Best in: borders, pots and containers; sheltered spot

Muscari armeniacum is the sort of spring bulb one comes to rely upon: neat, clump-forming foliage topped with dense, upright spires of violet-blue bells, each delicately tipped in white. Thread it through borders for a crisp early lift, tuck it beneath shrubs and roses, or let it quietly naturalise in grass where it will settle in and return with increasing charm.

Exceptionally easy to grow and fully hardy, it is a refined little workhorse for pots, pathways and rock gardens—particularly handsome when planted in generous drifts.

• Colour: Violet-blue with white tips
• Flowering: March to May
• Height: 20cm
• Best for: Containers, borders, underplanting, naturalising in grass