Gardening and Gardens

I love seeing the little blue flowers that appear in the spring. They often appear naturalized in the lawn or showing up in the garden bed among the daffodils and hyacinths. But which are they -  Scilla  or  Chionodoxa ? The main difference is the direction the flower head faces. Scilla   siberica,  or Siberian squill, have electric blue flowers that are bell-like, drooping downward.  It's six blue petals surround stamens that have thread-like filaments and are not clustered together.  Scilla  can grow 3-6 inches high and each bulb produces 3-4 stems with medium, strap-like leaves. It's very tough and cold hardy that easily naturalizes by bulb offshoots and self-seeding.   Chionodoxa  is commonly called Glory-of-the-Snow because it is among the first bulbs to bloom in the spring. Each bulb produces six petaled, soft blue flowers with white centers that face upward and are surrounded by narrow, basal leaves. If y...