Bulb Flowers
Bulbs from Thanksgiving to Easter
By
Jan 10, 2007 - 3:54:29 PM

The easiest plants for the novice gardener to grow in the window garden are bulbs.  Roman hyacinths can be grown from as early as Thanksgiving. Indeed, it is hard to fail with these charming flowers.  They come in red, blue, and white. 

There is a long list of bulbs available for you to grow, but most of them belong to one of two classes:  Dutch bulbs and Cape bulbs.  All of these bulbs need similar treatment.  This article talks about the most common bulbs and includes some great tips for storing, growing, and forcing bulbs.

The Dutch Bulbs

The bulbs known as “Dutch bulbs” are tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, crocuses, snowdrops, etc.  Madonna lilies and Bermuda may be added to this group because they require the same basic care.

If you purchase bulbs around October, place them in soil by the first of the month.  Use high quality soil designed for bulbs.  Leafmould is not an essential ingredient in bulb soils, but will work to add organic content.

Polyanthus narcissus are generally grown in six inch pots.  Use one to three bulbs per pot, depending on the size of the bulbs.  Tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils are best grown in eight inch pans rather than pots.  Set the bulbs in the container with the soil just covering the bulbs.  Water the bulbs thoroughly. 

The secret of bulb culture lies almost entirely in root development.  If the bulbs don’t root well before they are forced they will not produce healthy flowers.  No amount of care will increase the number of flowers.  This is already determined because the buds form in the bulbs themselves.  However, the size of the flowers depends on having good heavy bulbs and giving them proper treatment before forcing.

To secure a good root system for Dutch bulbs, place them, after potting, in a cool, dark place and keep the soil moderately damp for at least six weeks. 

Roman hyacinths can be forced after three weeks.  They will flower in two to three weeks.  I prefer to bury the bulbs about a foot deep in soil outdoors.  If the temperatures reach freezing a mulch of leaves or bark sufficiently thick to keep the soil from freezing will help the bulbs.  I leave them here until I want to force them.

One gardener solved the often-complex issue of winter storage of her bulbs as follows: 

“The construction of the pit was very simple.  A bottomless box was sunk in the ground to a depth of three or four inches, enough to stand firm.  This left an enclosing board frame about nine inches high above the ground level.  Inside this frame the earth was dug out to a depth of eighteen inches, and a layer of coarse coal ashes spread on the bottom, to insure good drainage.  On this foundation I place the bulb pots. 

The spaces between the pots I fill with sphagnum and a layer of moss.  I then fill the box with clean oat straw and place and old blanket on top.  You can also cover the box tightly with a wooden lid.  This is especially important if the temperatures drop below zero!”

Rooting in the Cellar

If the methods above aren’t convenient and you have a cool cellar or garage, put the pots in the dark out of the way and cover them with soil.  Here they will always be handy for bringing them out into the light when you want to grow them. 

For Christmas, you can try forcing Paper White and polyanthus narcissus, Roman hyacinths, and Duc van Thol tulips.  They will require four weeks (except for hyacinths, which are about one week less) after being brought out into the light. 

Many other Dutch bulbs will not force well so early in the year, and should not be brought out until just after Christmas. 

By bringing in the pots in succession about ten days apart you can have flowers from about January 20th until the spring. 

Great Tulips for Winter

Good tulips for early forcing are Proserpine, Yellow Prince, Chrysolora, Vermilion Brilliant, La Reine, Rose Grisdelin, and Cottage Maid.  Other varieties do better when not started until late January or early February.  Do not try to force double tulips until late February.

Easter lilies can flower, you guesses it, around Easter.  To get the Easter lily to flower for Easter, you must start forcing by December 1st.  The lilies are grown one to each six-inch pot and two or three in an eight-inch pot.

The easiest bulbs to grow are the Roman hyacinths, which can be flowering by Thanksgiving, Chinese sacred lily, and Paper White narcissus.  You can grow these in water, soil, coconut fiber, or sand.

The easiest plant to grow in pure water is the Chinese sacred lily.  Keep these bulbs away from drafts, though.  Extreme heat is also a problem.  Get a shallow container and put in enough pebbles to hold the bulb upright.  Then fill the container with water, just above the bulb.

To grow hyacinths in glasses select only hyacinths that are recommended for growing in glasses.  See that the base of the bulb is always in contact with water and that the water doesn’t go up too much above the base of the bulb.  Keep the glasses in a cool, dark, ventilated place until you see roots on the bottom.  After you see roots, bring the bulbs into the light.  Keep them away from drafts as well.  Change the water periodically.

The “Cape” Group of Bulbs

The Cape bulbs include such bulbs as freesia, ixia, sparaxis, and oxalis, which are bulbs from the region of the Cape of Good Hope. 

As the bulbs are small I believe the novice gardener should plant them in five-inch pots.  You can then make a few bulbs last over a longer period of time by bringing out the pots into the light over intervals of ten days or so.  By starting freesias and oxalis in August they can be flowering by Christmas. 

The Cape bulbs cannot be stored in a dark place.  You’ll need to store them in a light, cool, and frost-proof area because they start to form leaves as the roots grow.  A cool room with temperatures no lower than 40 degrees F during the night and around 50 degrees during the day will work. 

Oxalis and freesias are attractive and easy to grow, making them popular bulbs.  Ixia and sparaxis, however, are less common, as they love the cold.  The ixia does best when grown with low temperatures around 35 degrees and daytime temperatures at around 45 degrees. 

The ixia sends out long, grass-like leaves a long flower stalk, sometimes eighteen inches high.  The flowers themselves can be red, white, or blue depending on the variety.  The spikes contain six to twelve flowers.

The sparaxis is a beautiful bulb that can grow around six to eight inches high.  They produce around one to three funnel-shaped flowers.  These bulbs are appropriate for windows or in a cooler room of your home. 

If you have a cooler area in your home, try out the poppy-flowered anemone (A. coronaria) and the turbaned Persian ranunculus (R. asiaticus).  They are excellent as either potted plants or cut flowers.  Grow them the same as you would Cape bulbs. 

The poppy-flowered anemone has a pretty, finely divided leaf and a flower that can either be red, white, or blue.  It grows six to twelve inches high.  Avoid old, dried up bulbs.

The ranunculus has a fleshy root, which looks a lot like a group of diminutive sweet potatoes.  They are about ½ inch to an inch long and are joined together at one end.  The plants grow six inches to a foot high.  The flowers are red or yellow.

Here’s a list of bulbs that will give you flowers from Christmas to Easter:

• Chinese lilies:  blooming from December to early January
• Double Roman narcissus: blooming from early January to late January
• Grand Soleil d’Or narcissus: blooming from late January to mid-February
• Crocus: blooming from early February until mid-March
• Van Sion narcissus: blooming from early March to late March
• Princess Marianne tulip: blooming from late March to mid-April

Eight-inch pans are more effective for the large bulbs, while six-inch pans are best for the small ones.  Try ten tulips, ten narcissi, or eight hyacinths in an eight-inch pan.  Many people like to grow hyacinths singly in five-inch hyacinth pots, which are an inch and a half deeper than ordinary flowerpots.