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Online Library / Winter
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| Article - A Touch of Spring in Winter |
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Season: Winter
Category: Indoor Plants
Force Tulips, Daffodils, and Hyacinths Indoors This Winter.
Flower bulbs not only bring color to your garden, but also to your living-room. The choice of types and colors is so enormous, that you can always pick out the idea combination to go with your lifestyle.
To make flower bulbs blossom, they first have to undergo a cool temperature treatment of a few weeks. Some bulbs are specially prepared in advance. This is always indicated on the package. Hyacinths are especially suited for forced indoor blooming. Their lovely fragrance can fill an entire room. White hyacinths such as the Carnegie, and White Pearl, or the blue Delft Blue, are great for forcing. The narcissus comes in many varieties, for example there is the bright yellow Jetfire, the tiny Tete a' Tete, or the popular Tazetta or Paperwhites.
Some types of tulips can also be successfully brought to bloom indoors as well as many lesser known flowers which are truly magnificent: grape hyacinths, crocuses, and other special bulbous plants, all thrive indoors.
Flower bulbs which you want to bring to bloom indoors can be planted in earthenware, plastic or glass pots. It is important, however, that these pots are at least 4 inches high and have a drainage hole. The ideal soil to use is a good potting soil such as our Forth Floral soil mix.
In addition to pots, you can also use glass containers filled with gravel for certain types of bulbs, such as paperwhite narcissus, or glass holders, such as the typical hyacinth glass.
Planting time is from early September to December 1. The earlier you plant the bulbs, the earlier they will start to flower. For a good result it is absolutely necessary that the bulbs are kept at a cool temperature of about 48º F for the period specified. If the cold period is too short, the stems of the flowers will be too short. If the cold period is too long, the flowers will also be too long. Most bulbs need10 to 15 weeks in a dark, cool spot, a refrigerator, basement, garage, or a trench outdoors well enough covered with hay or leaves so they won't freeze. When the pot is full of roots - tip the soil out of one pot to check - you can begin bringing pots to warmth, one or two at a time to prolong the blooming season.
When you bring the pots to warmth the shoots will be almost white. Place the pots in a cool 50-60º F place that gets indirect or very diffused sunlight until the tips turn green. Water as needed.
Now it is bloom-time, spring now to the plant. Set them in a sunny window in a cool, 65-70º F spot. It will take bout 2 to 3 weeks until the flowers are in full bloom. If stems get too tall, support with stakes. Amaryllis and Paperwhites can be placed in a warm room immediately after purchase. These bulbs do not need a cool temperature treatment.
After blooming, forced bulbs will have depleted strength and probably skip at least one year of bloom so you may want to discard them. They will, however eventually regain strength and are fine for naturalizing.
Apart from spreading fragrance and cheer in the home, it is also a very interesting hobby to force bulbs into early bloom indoors. With a minimum of effort, you can enjoy there "first harbingers of spring" in your home as early as Christmas. Buy some extras too, for these make great gifts.
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Forth Floral Inc. ~ P.O. Box 616, Rhinelander WI. 54501 ~ TF: 1-800-382-4942 P: 715-362-7600
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