What it says
The muscari speaks of quiet confidence and of beginning again. It flowers early, in March and April, often before the garden has restarted, and forms drifts rather than specimens — a flower of number, not of individual.
The name comes from the Greek moschos, musk, after the scent of some species: light, powdery, faintly honeyed.
What it does in a garden
It is among the easiest bulbs to naturalise: planted once, it self-seeds and multiplies unaided, year after year. Within a few seasons a handful of bulbs becomes a drift.
It tolerates light shade and poor soil, and takes mowing once the foliage has yellowed. The one rule that matters: never cut green leaves, which recharge the bulb for next year.
Tassel hyacinth, Muscari comosum, is eaten in southern Italy as lampascioni — bitter bulbs preserved in vinegar or oil. It is one of the few ornamental bulbs with a traditional food use.
In a vase
The stem is short and hollow; it holds better in a small container, massed, than dispersed through an arrangement. Ten stems in a glass are enough — the blue is dense enough to need nothing else.
our piece on flower symbolism places the muscari among the flowers of return.