Forcing Bulbs

I did something a little crazy this week. I had a horrible itch to get outside, so even though the ground was still covered in white, I broke out some gardening tools!


I really wanted to force bulbs this winter and have beautiful blooms indoors to cheer me up. When I worked at the Noni gardens we forced hyacinths and amaryllis for the lobby area during the winter, and everyone oooh and aaaaahed over them. Unfortunately, you have to start the process in the fall and I was not thinking about gardening last fall (I was still sick as a dog with this pregnancy thing). It takes anywhere between 6 and 12 weeks of chilling for bulbs to be ready to bloom. But then a thought came to me the other day... I planted a bunch of bulbs last spring... and they have been chilling in the ground all winter... so why couldn't I just dig some up and bring them inside? It was worth a try!

After clearing the ground with a snow shovel, I chipped the frozen bark with a hand trowel and then dug down where I thought I remembered planting some narcissus.

Lo and behold... LIFE! I can't even describe how exciting it is to see green shoots in January. It reminded me why I love this gardening thing.

I potted them up and brought them into my kitchen to see if they would grow. They make me smile every time I see them!

So far the shoots are turning green now that they are exposed to sunlight (photosynthesis at work) and I swear they have grown a little taller. Sadly, I may have to put them in a darker, cooler room to slow their development for a week because we are headed to Hawaii in 3 days. Oops, bad timing! It will be fun to see how they have developed while I'm gone though!

Maybe next fall I will remember to do a real tutorial on how anyone can have beautiful blooming bulbs during the cold of winter!