Ciliaris, hyacinthoides, and peruviana are highly ornamental in the border, with their large heads of flowers in summer, and their broad foliage; they are, however, shy bloomers in some soils after the first year, and want thorough ripening off after blooming.
A Scilla little seen in gardens is Lilio-hyacinthus, which has broad leaves, large bulbs with scales, like those of a Lily, and pretty bluish flowers. There is a rare white variety, but the pink form seems to have been lost.
Puschkinias are pretty bulbous plants allied to the Scillas, and producing neat spikes of porcelain-blue or whitish flowers lined with blue. They are easily grown on light soil, but require protection from slugs when they first appear. They bloom in March, and there is only one species in cultivation--scilloides--the variety compacta having a denser spike.
Chionodoxas deserve all the praise they have received, although in our climate they do not come, as a rule, when we have snow, so that the popular name of "Glory of the Snow" is not so appropriate as in their native country. The best known is C. Luciliæ, which has blue flowers with a large white eye. The greater number of the others are distinct enough for garden purposes, although classed by botanists as varieties of this species. Sardensis is a favourite, with its smaller, deeper coloured flowers, with hardly any white in the centre. Gigantea and Alleni are nearly alike, but the latter has more flowers on the stem, and is deeper in colour. Tmolusii is the latest to bloom of these varieties; it resembles Luciliæ, but is of a deeper, more purplish-blue. There are pink, and also white varieties of all these. Cretica is the least effective of the genus, with the exception of the scarce nana, which is a charming, if not showy little flower, almost white and lined with blue.
The Chionoscillas are hybrids between the Chionodoxas and Scillas, S. bifolia being one of the parents of nearly all the forms in existence. These are interesting and pretty in their varied shades of blue or pink. Seedlings from Chionodoxas do not always come true to the parent, but may revert to one or other of its ancestors.
Muscaris are so numerous, and many resemble each other so closely, that it is needless to attempt to grow more than a selection. Few are prettier than the common M. botryoides, the Grape Hyacinth, which drew from Ruskin words of praise familiar to many. It is very beautiful, and its only fault is its rapid increase. Some of its varieties are prized by those who grow them. The larger of the two white varieties, known as album grandiflorum, and pallidum grandiflorum, with pale blue flowers, are both pretty.