Bursting with extra petals, double hyacinths were once the most prized. Rediscover their antique charms with this sampler of 4 unique beauties, including our Fall 2008 Bulb of the Year, ‘Chestnut Flower’. Save the Doubles!

For 2 or more of each, order additional samplers.

Sample the rich colors and fragrances of these most-endangered bulbs. Easy to force and great in the garden (zones 5-8aS/10WC). Five different singles, our choice, all terrific.

For 2 or more of each, order additional samplers.

“Returns better than any other hyacinth I’ve ever grown.” That’s what I wrote in 1994 when we first offered this Victorian favorite, and sixteen years later it’s still true – proving, as every gardener knows, that what’s great about some plants can’t be seen in photographs. Though it’s been commercially extinct in the Netherlands for over a decade, it survives in the British National Collection and we’re thrilled to have a few bulbs to share with you again. 10-12 inches, zones 5-7S/9WC, from England. Chart to compare.

The starry, overstuffed florets of this Victorian double are a lovely “dawn pink.” Though double hyacinths were once the most coveted, today only a handful survive. To celebrate – and help save – their complex, old-fashioned beauty, we named this glorious relic our Fall 2008 Heirloom Bulb of the Year. 10-12 inches, zones 5-8aS/10WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Ineffably soft, baby-chick yellow, “City of Haarlem” makes every hyacinth rainbow lovelier. Named for the bulb district’s grandest city, ‘Haarlem’ has been a favorite for well over a century now. 10-12 inches, zones 5-8aS/10WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

With long outer petals that swoop back and curl like those of a turk’s-cap lily’s, and shorter inner petals crimped into a squiggly rosette, this is one of the most interesting — and rarest — of the Victorian doubles. 10-12 inches, zones 5-8aS/10WC, from the British National Collection. Chart to compare.

With big, opulent bells of soft blue and lavender that look like they’ve been sculpted out of Bavarian sugar-frosting, this rare jewel is the oldest surviving double hyacinth of all. 10-12 inches, zones 5-8aS/10WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

“If I could grow only one hyacinth,” Rand Lee wrote in The American Cottage Gardener, “it would be this.” He praised its “luminous” apricot color, the “melon undertone” of its “considerable fragrance,” and “best of all” how it “naturalizes effortlessly” in his dry, zone-6a Santa Fe garden. 10-12 inches, zones 5-8aS/10WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.