Squill
Scilla siberica
About as little trouble as a bulb can be: sun or shade, no water, no feed, and it flowers before the border wakes.
Light Sun or shade — it makes no difference to this one.
Water Once established it needs no watering at all.
Height 20 cm
Spread 3.9 in
Spacing 10 cm
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 3.9 in
- In-row spacing
- 3.9 in
- Between rows
- 5.1 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Sun or shade — it makes no difference to this one.
- Watering
- Once established it needs no watering at all.
- Feeding
- No feeding called for.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- March
- Pruning
- Nothing to prune; let the leaves die down in their own time.
- Overwintering
- Fully hardy; leave it in the ground.
Through the year
- Feb–Mar Spring Growth
- Mar–May Flowering
- May–May Growing
- May–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Feb Leaf Fall
Pests & problems
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Snakes & lizards Colubridae & PhrynosomatidaeHunts Mice & voles
A garter snake works the beds for slugs and voles and a fence lizard clears grasshoppers off a sunny wall. Almost every snake a gardener meets is harmless and useful; give them a log pile, a warm flat stone and a bit of cover and they stay.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com