Siberian squill offers invasion of spring color

Siberian squill spreads, or “naturalizes,” from bulbs underground and much more quickly from seeds above ground. It is extremely hardy and resistant to the freezing temperatures, ice and snow of winter, and it blooms in early spring.

The plant is not native to the U.S., nor did it originate in Siberia. It is native to southwestern Russia, the Caucasus, and Turkey.

Siberian squill was introduced into the U.S. by European settlers, most likely around the end of Colonial times. An 1811 book about the plants at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew near London lists Siberian squill in the collection there, from a source cultivated in 1796, showing it was available by that time to English emigrants.

It is not possible to say when the first Siberian squill bulb was planted on the Ridge. Early settlers were here in the 1830s, and the city of Blue Island saw an influx of settlers in the 1850s.

An 1856 publication, The Kitchen and Flower Garden, mentioned Siberian squill, stating that it “is one of the prettiest emblems of spring which we have, joined to which, its dwarf and graceful stature renders it worthy of all admiration.”

By the 1870s, when Washington Heights, Beverly and Morgan Park started to be settled in earnest, the plant was regularly mentioned in publications like the Amateur Gardener’s Calendar, The Garden, and Familiar Garden Flowers.

That latter publication reported that Siberian squill “makes a fringe of heavenly blue” that causes viewers to “experience a strange thrill of emotion, either because the color has some spiritual import that the soul understands, or because the assurance it gives of the constancy of the seasons re-establishes the confidence that late frosts and east winds had well-nigh shattered.”

In other words, the blooming of this plant is a sign that spring has arrived.

Siberian squill became popular for planting in gardens throughout the northern states. An article from a 1939 Camden, New Jersey, newspaper in which early-blooming plants from bulbs were discussed, described the plant as “the sweet blueness of the Siberian squills which in long drifts look like fallen bits of spring sky.”

The article also stated that “Siberian squills will delight you and make you bless the day you discovered them.”

That is not a viewpoint shared today. Regardless of its attractiveness, it is an invasive species that, quite simply, does not belong here.

In some areas of the Midwest, it is considered a serious threat because it crowds out less hardy native wildflowers. Alternative native blue-flowering plants recommended for use in place of Siberian squill include Virginia bluebells and wild blue phlox.

Even if invasive, according to the University of Wisconsin Extension, Siberian squill is a good pollinator plant for bees and other pollinating insects. As bees emerge from their winter clusters, it is one of the first plants available to them for foraging.

Siberian squill is readily available through catalogs and plant nurseries. Today, gardeners who want to plant this in flowerbeds, knowing it is invasive, are expected to cultivate it responsibly so it doesn’t spread to affect native plants.

The blue lawns on the Ridge took decades to develop and would not be recommended today, but they are eye-catching in their historic splendor as the heralds of springtime.