The objective in designing a traditional blue garden is to create a charming, romantic impression.

• To achieve this, you could combine various kinds of blue-flowering bulbous plants in the border or in romantic containers and baskets made of rattan, zinc or traditional earthenware.

Muscari armeniacum, Scilla mischtschenkoana

Hyacinthus 'Blue Festival', Muscari

• Crocus tommasinianus, the earliest to flower, is followed by Scilla mischtschenkoana (light blue) and Scilla siberica (deep blue). Yet another blue variety is Anemone blanda ‘Blue Shades’ – pretty to plant beneath creamy-white tulips or with white Muscari.

Crocus tommasinianus	Hyacinthus, Scilla mischtschenkoana
Anemone blanda, Muscari 'Album'	Scilla mischtschenkoana

• Pure blues can also be found among many varieties of Grape Hyacinth (Muscari): from the deep blue M. latifolium to the light blue M. ‘Valerie Finnis’.

Muscari Latifolium

Muscari Armeniacum

Muscari 'Ocean Magic'

Muscari 'Valerie Finnis'

• For fragrance, choose from several blue hyacinth varieties; among the more exceptional blue-flowering, bulbous plants are Anemone coronaria ‘Mr. Fokker’ which prefers the shelter provided by perennials in order to withstand the cold better. Blooming the latest (end of May) is Allium caeruleum, an azure-blue ornamental onion that’s at its prettiest among the silver-gray foliage of lavender.

Muscari 'Valerie Finnis', 'Blue Spike','Atlantic', Hyacinthus 'Sky Jacket

Anemone coronaria 'Mr. Fokker'