Magical Muscari: an enchanting bulbous plant

<body> Magical Muscari: an enchanting bulbous plant It all started with Muscari ‘Blue Magic’: one of the results of the plant breeding programme at Boltha B.V., a bulb production and trading company located in Breezand. This grape hyacinth is distinguished by its short leaves and its versatile use: easy to force in pots, it also makes a beautiful addition to the garden. Muscari ‘Blue Magic’ displays good keeping quality, too, so consumers can enjoy it for a long time. All good reasons why this spring-flowering bulb is an attractive product for florists, supermarkets and garden centres. In addition to ‘Blue Magic’, the Magic line also includes a ‘White Magic’ and an ‘Ocean Magic’. ‘White Magic’ is the first white grape hyacinth to be successfully used as a pot plant, so this makes it a real novelty for this market segment. ‘Ocean Magic’ is forced later in the forcing season and produces a unique blue colour with a white top. A seedling known as ‘Early Magic’ is still undergoing testing. The Muscari Magic varieties are protected by plant breeders’ rights. Only seven growers, all of them located in a bulb-growing area known as the Northern Sandy Region in the northern part of North Holland, are permitted to produce these varieties. They have joined forces in the form of a growers’ association, Kwekersvereniging Muscari Blue Magic, in which they arrive at agreements relating to the quality and quantity of bulbs produced every season. Together, they dedicate around thirty hectares to these Muscari Magic varieties and produce about thirty million bulbs a year. What makes the products in the Muscari Magic Line so very successful are their unique characteristics – easy to produce and force, short leaves, beautiful sturdy flower spikes and long keeping quality. Demand for them is still growing, both in the Netherlands and abroad. This site provides more information about these products. Be enchanted by Magical Muscari! For forcing The Magic Muscaris are an easy product for pot production in 9-cm and 12-cm. pots or larger shallow containers. They will not, however, be hurried along in the greenhouse. Genetically, Magic Muscaris have much shorter leaves than Muscari Armeniacum. The crop takes longer to force but its leaves remain much shorter and do not fall over. This means that with Magic Muscaris, your buyers have a fine product. Do you have any questions, or would you like to make use of our production assistance? We will be pleased to be of service. Landscaping specialists/Dry bulb sellers When you plant Muscari Magic in a park or border, and both you and your customer will be assured of a beautiful product year after year. Magic Muscaris are especially suited to use as edging material in the border, but our grape hyacinths can also be used to create the most unusual patterns and figures. This product is distinguished by the late emergence of its leaves in February. Unlike many other grape hyacinths, the foliage of our Magic Muscaris does not emerge in November or December when frost can make this foliage unattractive. The leaves also remain short so that the flowers are displayed without the interference of leaves projecting up between them. And, because every offset on the bulb produces a spike, our muscaris are simply covered in flowers. Naturalising studies have shown that the Magic Muscaris scored highest for this application. Would you like to know more? Do you need advice? We will be pleased to assist you. Individualised advice Obviously, you will not want to simply dive into working with a new product. Before investing your time, effort and money, you would like to know more about it. Arno Kroon, our coordinator and contact person, will be pleased to help you. He will be happy to provide you with individualised advice and can run a number of small trials at your location so that you can try out this product before actually buying it. For more information, you can call him at: (+31) 06 53160204. These forcing descriptions are based on the experiences of Arno Kroon, our production facilitator, consultant and intermediary. For more information, you can contact him at (+31): 06-53 16 02 04 or a.kroon@cnb.nl. Forcing Muscari ‘Blue Magic’ ® Early forcing: house from early January to early February From the time of arrival to the cooling period, store the bulbs at 20-23˚C from 15 September at 5-9˚C, 15 weeks of cooling Pot up from 15 September to approx. 15 October Start housing on 1 January Later forcing: house after 15 February From August and September, store the bulbs at 23˚C and in October at 20˚C from 1 November at 5-9˚C, 14 weeks of cooling Pot up from 1 November through approx. 10 January Start housing on 15 February If shoots start to emerge during later forcing, the rooting room temperature can be dropped to 1˚C. Muscari ‘Blue Magic’ ® is an easy product for pot production but will not be hurried along in the greenhouse. The ideal greenhouse temperature is approx. 14 to 17˚C. Even better would be to let them green up outside in a very sheltered location. This way, their leaves immediately start growing outward instead of upward, and two flowers will emerge fairly quickly. Genetically, Muscari ‘Blue Magic’ ® has much shorter leaves than Muscari Armeniacum. The crop takes longer to force but its leaves remain much shorter and do not fall over. Forcing Muscari ‘White Magic’ ® Early forcing: house from early January to early February From the time of arrival to the cooling period, store the bulbs at 20-23˚C from 15 September at 5-9˚C, 15 weeks of cooling Pot up from 15 September to approx. 15 October Start housing on 1 January Later forcing: house after 15 February From August and September, store the bulbs at 23˚C and in October at 20˚C from 1 November at 5-9˚C, 14 weeks of cooling Pot up from 1 November through approx. 10 January Start housing on 15 February If shoots start to emerge during later forcing, the rooting room temperature can be dropped to 1˚C. Muscari White Magic ® is the only perfect white grape hyacinth suitable for pot production. This product can be forced somewhat earlier and easier than ‘Blue Magic’ but will not be hurried along in the greenhouse. The ideal greenhouse temperature is approx. 14 to 17˚C. Even better would be to let them green up outside in a very sheltered location. This way, their leaves immediately start growing outward instead of upward, and two to five flowers will emerge fairly quickly. Genetically, Muscari ‘White Magic’ ® has much shorter leaves than Muscari Armeniacum, remains much shorter, and does not fall over. Forcing Muscari ‘Ocean Magic’ ® Muscari ‘Ocean Magic’ ® displays a special colour in bud and is suitable only for later-season forcing. Later forcing: house after 15 February From August and September, store the bulbs at 23˚C and in October at 20˚C from 1 November at 5-9˚C, 15 weeks of cooling Pot up from 1 November through approx. 10 January Start housing on 1 February If shoots start to emerge during later forcing, the rooting room temperature can be dropped to 1˚C. Muscari ‘Blue Ocean’ ® is an easy product for pot production but will not be hurried along in the greenhouse. The ideal greenhouse temperature is approx. 14 to 17˚C. Even better would be to let them green up outside in a very sheltered location. This way, their leaves immediately start growing outward instead of upward, and two flowers will emerge fairly quickly. Genetically, Muscari ‘Blue Ocean’ ® has much shorter leaves than Muscari Armeniacum. The crop takes longer to force but its leaves remain much shorter and do not fall over. For more information or to place orders, please contact: Kwekersvereniging Muscari Blue Magic Arno Kroon, contact person for coordination and sales e-mail: a.kroon@cnb.nl tel.: (+31) 06 53160204 Affiliated members: Boltha B.V. J.Th. Kreuk & Zn. J.B. Smakman & Zn. N.G. Hoornsman & Zn. Cleem Vonderbank & Zn. Langelaan ‘De Meerling’ Bloembollenbedrijf Duin Export companies that sell Muscari Magic: </body>