Winter Blooms From Forced Bulbs
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- March
- 25
Remember those bulbs I potted up in December and stuck in the basement for several weeks? Here’s a link to an earlier post.
Well, I’ve been bringing them back to life, a few pots at a time to spread out the bloom time. First, crocus.
The same pot, in December.
What a treat to have my own flowers in the house this time of year.
Then I brought up a few daffodils. This is a cultivar called ‘Jetfire.’
I like it, but I don’t think I’ll try this one again for forcing—too tall and floppy. I remember taking a bulb-forcing class a few years ago with Sarah Price, head gardener at Montgomery Place in Annandale-on-Hudson. She said the shorter varieties of daffodils are the best ones for forcing.
Interesting cup on ‘Jetfire.’
Don’t be alarmed when you first bring your bulbs out of cold storage. The new foliage tends to look like sickly white asparagus. But they green up in a couple of weeks.
Aren’t these tulips great?
This is a cultivar called ‘Passionale,’ one of my favorites.
And not a deer in sight.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 2:11 pm by Bill Cary.
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Bill Cary grew up in Louisville, Ky. His gardening was limited to growing parsley and impatiens on the windowsill of Manhattan walkups until the mid-1990s when he bought a rundown old chicken farm on 8 acres in the Hudson Valley. Now he spends his weekends chasing deer, hacking away at invasive shrubs and vines and wondering why he doesn`t have more meadow and less lawn.
Bill –
For a forced bulb display that is stockier and less prone to sprawl, grow them really cool. Most homes are too warm, thus the stretched, weak growth that flops.
Ed
Thanks Ed. Yes, I do find they grow better and last longer in cool rooms.