The big, showy bulbs get most of our attention, but those "supporting cast members" can really elevate the appearance of a design, and sometimes even steal the show!

I started gardening as a middle schooler, and bulbs were my first experiences. I saved my allowance and ordered small quantities of everything I could afford. While 10 bulbs here and there of various little flowers weren't that showy at first, over the years I saw many of them increase and naturalize.

For some reason, as an adult, I've been slow to get back into some of those little favorites, but last fall I plunged back into them, and I'm so glad I did! Being their first year, many sprouted erratically, some already in full flower while others were only just surfacing. If I recall correctly, this is typical, and in following years sprouting and bloom time will be more consistent, as well as a little earlier.

Some of my favorites are:
Siberian Squills
Chionodoxa
Muscari
Ipheion
dwarf Iris


Above are Scilla siberica, Muscari latifolium, Muscari 'Sky Blue'

Please share your favorite little blue bulbs and pics!

I have had squills for a few years. Loved the blooms, but didn't get a lot of flowering. Thinking they needed more sun, I moved them last Fall and the foliage looked much healthier on them this year, but no blooms at all. Waiting to see what happens next year. Planning on putting in some Chionodoxa and dwarf Iris this coming Fall.

Puschkinia

Chionodoxa

I love little blue bulbs!
And I'm actually a big fan of the grapies--that's what I call the Muscari--even though they are *not* my favorite and they are so darn 'common', inexpensive, easy, prolific, hard to eradicate, and whatever else some folks might consider a possible drawback to one of the classic signs of spring...
This here is a not-so-great pic of feral grapies growing with the sagebrush and rabbit brush in the foothills where I run my dogs, taken a few nights ago:


gotta love their constitution
They even smell kind of 'grapey' and they make a nice blue blur for photos of other bulbs


I do have quite a few of them...because they multiply very well...
Pictorial ode to grapies:








M. plumosum not in full bloom just yet

I like grapies, too, dirt.

Sparse scilla bloom, but pretty.

Here are some of my smaller ones.

Pretty, Marie.

Thanks. A lot of mine are finished blooming and I forgot to take pictures. We had a really warm winter this year so everything bloomed really early

Enjoying everyone's photos, thanks to all!

Dirtdorphins, again, such beautiful pics! I'm also a big fan of the "grapies". The increasing variety in cultivars offered lately has piqued my interest in trying more (than just M. armeniacum I've grown for years). I've been wanting to try and see 'Valerie Finnis' for years, and finally planted 100 last fall, split between 2 areas of the garden. I love them as much as I thought I would!


Debra, is that Scilla what is also known as Spanish Bluebells or wood hyacinth (genus Hyacinthoides)? They have just started blooming here, and are a favorite of mine.





Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler' I'm excited to see these form clumps. I also planted the species, I.uniflorum, and 'Wisley Blue'. They've all been sweet, and look to have potential to be showy in a couple of years.




Muscari 'Blue Spike'

Yes, Neal.

Beautiful! I am a big fan of Muscari as well. Now I have to get Blue Spike added to my list......Thanks for all of you who are sharing pictures!

Loving the pictures guys. Where did you all get your Siberian Squills? I've been eyeing them a bit lately. In my husband's research on bee plants, he read something about bees liking these plants for a good early spring bloom.

My hyacinthoides are just now starting too


I've been meaning to get back here to add pics of my faves

Early--
I love the scilla! To be honest, at that time of year, when I have been bereft of outdoor blooms and suffered thru months of doom and gloom, I love everything!
The scilla are my first real blues though, and blue is just so very awesome indeed

This year I discovered blue pollen on the bees and took a gazillion or so pictures and then I realized that the flowers have such cute little purple hoods that I fell in love with them all over again


Terri, I just saw you posted while I was uploading--The bees love 'em! They bloom for quite along time, proliferate by seed and bulb-lets, and can threaten to take over an area if they are well sited. They are also pretty common and easy to come by from most of the bulb places. I can't remember where I found the most affordable bundle... may have been Holland Bulb Farms, but I'm not sure...

Forgot to mention on the scilla--for me, bloom timing is good with the kaufmanniana tulips and *early* daffs, like tete-a-tete and some mystery trumpet I have. I tried them with kokopelli ...and that turned out pretty stupid

other 'earlies'
reticulated iris--they never last long enough for me! Cantab smells great. I try to go sniff it every night when I get home and then it's gone


chionodoxa --kinda like scilla but not quite


Just last fall I tried a chionodoxa relative, some of the so called striped squill--Puschkinia. They are dang cute and I look forward to them multiplying in the new area. Not really blue, but a great blue stripe


The hyacinths really scent up the garden in early spring, too, and I enjoy that immensely--not exactly little, but I got a bunch of these blue ones--to go with some blue throat-ed pink tulips (yonina and little beauty). And of course the hyacinth are pretty much done by the time those tulips open, so that worked out pretty stupid too


I tried a blue-eyed tulip. It looks purple to me. I planted them in an area where I had poisoned an evil plant...which turned out to be really stupid. This is the only one that bloomed and all their leaves turned yellow and shrived up before the rest of them could do anything.



later...
pics of the later ones...

Looks like a beautiful purple to me, too, dirt.

Terri, I got Siberian Squills from Van Engelen, they were around $15 per 100. Kinda kicked myself for splitting up the 100 bulb lots I got, and planting them in clumps in 2 or 3 places- they really make much more impact if planted by the 100 in a single location. I know in a year or 2 they'll multiply quickly and provide some "wow" factor, which is fun to watch though.

Ipheion uniflorum

Marie, I meant to thank you for your warm zone contributions! And they reminded me that I had meant to mention earlier in the thread that pics and comments about any little bulbs are welcome here, whether they're blue or not

So many of the little bulbs are available in blue/purple shades, but often offer other colors as well. I love seeing any of the small bulbs, especially used in such a way that they make a big visual impact, or perfectly accent other, larger plants.

Neal, took these photographs today for you.

I have enjoyed this thread on the little bulb plants.
Thanks for posting the pictures.
We will wait another month or so for them to show up here!

Caroline, I'm looking very forward to the little blue beauties, laying in wait under the snow! The way our weather has been, I believe I'll see spring about the same time you do. I'm anticipating some great blooms in spring, both from increase from the bulbs planted in 2013, and from new additions last fall.

I've always wanted to do a planting that mimics a stream, with a mass of little blue blooms. My big plan was to do 1000 Chionodoxa, but then reduced it to 500, in wanting to budget for so many other bulbs. Then when I planted, I realized I needed blue in another bed, and 200 went there. So, I did plant a little trickling stream of 300 of them, but it won't be the wow factor I was going for. Hopefully they will naturalize well and I'll see the effect in a few years anyway

Also added 50 Muscari azureum, 100 Anemone blanda- blue shades, and 40 Pushkinia.