Thursday, October 22, 2009

Forcing

One of my biggest regrets of having to live in an apartment is that I can't have a garden. I ADORE most flowering bulbs, and if I owned land, I can assure you it would be positively COVERED with a large variety of blooms.

A few weeks ago, The Boy's Boy Scout troop had a fundraiser to benefit an upcoming trip to the White House. The fundraiser was the sale of bulbs from a catalog. It is actually a thrill for me to look through catalogs like these. I gasp and everything. Seeing the catalog reminded me that I have always intended to try forcing some bulbs indoors. And what better time than the present?

I ordered hyacinths, crocuses, bluebells, striped squill, and paperwhites. (I would have loved to have gotten some tulips and daffodils too, but I read that they don't force as well.) The bulbs arrived yesterday. SQUEEE!

I have an elaborate plan of forcing a few of each type at a time, in a wide, shallow vase filled with glass pebbles and water. But most of the bulbs need to be chilled for a couple of months first, so we'll have to get to that later.

The paperwhites do NOT have to be chilled before forcing. I just set up two of them in little forcing vases. I can't wait until they bloom. If they bloom. Wish me luck!

2 comments:

CassyLee said...

Good Luck - and I want to see pics of the progress, because I think I'd like to try forcing a few bulbs myself (particularly the ones that smell lovely, like hyacinths). I've never had much success with planting them around my patio - so forcing a few may be the way to go if I want pretty pretty, smelly flowers ;-)

CosmicAvatar said...

I totally understand your bulb love. I was having a lovely time wandering around the bulb section in the garden centre a month or so back. Planting is less fun, but one hopes the investment pays off. Best of luck!