Common hyacinth

In spring the fields around Lisse and Hillegom smell of hyacinths – the Netherlands is the world’s main centre for growing their bulbs.

The common hyacinth is a bulbous perennial 20–30 cm tall of the asparagus family, with fleshy, channelled leaves and a dense, cylindrical spike of bell-shaped, intensely fragrant flowers. In the wild it grows in southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel, where it has loose spikes of bluish flowers. More than 2,000 varieties have been bred, with blue, purple, pink, red, white and yellowish flowers. The bulbs force easily, so hyacinths are also sold as pot plants in winter and early spring.

Significance in the country

Hyacinths have been grown in the Netherlands for centuries, and in the 18th century they became a fashionable collector’s plant here – Dutch growers bred hundreds of varieties at the time. Today the flowering fields of hyacinths, tulips and daffodils in the Bollenstreek and the Keukenhof gardens draw crowds of visitors every spring, and the floats of the Bloemencorso Bollenstreek flower parade are decorated mainly with hyacinths.

Where it grows

Cultivation is concentrated in the Bollenstreek – a strip of sandy soils behind the dunes between Leiden and Haarlem (Lisse, Hillegom, Noordwijkerhout) – and in North Holland and Flevoland.

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