Window Hyacinths

Most years we force hyacinth bulbs in the windows because they're so pretty.   [Read:  I get crazy around the second week of January and this keeps me from going completely bonkers before things get warm again and I can spend a few hours outside every day.]

These particular vases were designed for just this purpose.  The bulb sits in the top and you keep the bottom full of water.   It only takes a day or so for the roots to really get going.  

Here's the thing though - you don't need a fancy vase to do this.  A couple of inches of pebbles in a canning jar will do the same thing.  

We generally get the bulbs in the fall and then put them in the fridge until after the holidays.   


Then all you do is pull them out and set them in the jar and water them.   Make sure the water level stays up pretty near the base of the bulb.

After a few weeks, the buds start showing.    This one is just starting to show blue.   

I think I may survive the winter.

Forcing

I was hoping to do a post on how to force bulbs.  You know, one of those posts with beautiful photos, beautiful flowers in beautiful containers, all wrapped up in a Martha Stewart-esque house.

So
Not
Happening

I've decided to give you the pics that I have anyway to illustrate the fact that not everything that I try to do works.   Sometimes the project is lame.  Sometimes the photos are bad.  Sometimes the cat attacks the plants.  My life is just as messy as yours.

Here's how to force bulbs:

Step 1:  Assemble your pot, bulbs and something to keep the bulbs from moving around in the bottom of the pot.   I used sand.  You can use dirt, sand, gravel or those cute little glass thingies that go in vases.

Step 2:  These are mini tulips.  They're supposed to be only 4 inches high - perfect for an indoor pot.  Plant them and watch for the green to leap out of the pot.   These sprouted little green noses overnight.

Step 3:  Wait.   This photo is about 2 weeks in.  Notice that they are way more than 4 inches high and already starting to flop a bit.   Tulips are notorious for flopping.  What you can't see in this photo is the end of the leaf that the cat has been eating.   I think the cat has exacerbated the floppiness.

Step 4:  Ta DA!   Flowers.   These look a little wild because some of them are dying already and the cat ate some of them.   Turns out everyone likes tulips.  Deer, chipmunks, cats, people.   I read somewhere once that in Holland during the war, people ate tulip bulbs.  I have never been hungry enough to try one.

Next year I'll do another post and hopefully it will be more Martha-esque.