If you experience the scent of hyacinthus, you know spring has arrived. With their delicate fragrance and fresh colours they banish winter from your door. The Hyacinth arrived in Europe via Turkey, Syria and Lebanon around 1560, but it took a couple of more centuries before everyone could indulge in its charms. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Hyacinthus was so exclusive, only rich aficionados could afford to adorn their conservatories with the plant. Fortunately things in the intervening years have changed considerably. Almost every flower is imbued with some kind of symbolic value, and so too the Hyacinth. It is the flower of Apollo, the sun god, symbolising peace, dedication and beauty, but also power and pride.
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