Would you like to have a brilliant, dependable flower this winter and next spring in contrast to your usual house plants?
Spring Colors of Plants
You can have generous spreads of color —yellow, blue, pink, and red—if you plan now to force bulbs such as tulips and daffodils.
They’re easier than you think and very generous, too, for they adhere to a strict blooming-date schedule. And all this without a greenhouse!
Outdoor Planting
When you select bulbs for forcing, don’t pick them off an open counter in a store. These might have a chance for outdoor planting but not for pushing.
Freshness and moisture are important. Don’t try to force any variety; some are forcers, some not. Generally, they are especially indicated in the catalogs.
Avoid cheap stock at all times, and don’t be enticed to buy hyacinths in “all colors mixed.” The effect in blooming will be an assortment, as all colors do not bloom simultaneously.
In selecting your containers, bear in mind that you are seeking harmonious effects with your blooming material. Look for handsome, unusual containers.
Sending Out Pots of Flowering Bulbs
The florist is satisfied to send out his pots of flowering bulbs wrapped with colored foil, but you’ll not be satisfied.
Over the years, you’ll accumulate a permanent collection of plain pottery, fine copper, and brass.
The selection for bulbs grown in water is easy because many low containers are of the depth needed to hold bulbs upright in pebbles or peat moss.
A drainage hole in the pot is necessary for growing bulbs in the soil.
This means that you must find good-looking outside containers large enough to hold the ordinary bulb pan, or else clay pots handsome enough in themselves, such as the handmade pie-crust-edged ones pictured.
Selecting Hyacinths
Dutch hyacinths (those grown in Holland) are available in all sizes and are hardy. For forcing.
Unless you are ambitious enough to compete in a flower show, select those listed as 17 to 18 cm in circumference, usually called “second size,” or 15 to 16 cm, called “bedding size.”
There is still another size, 14 to 15 cm, the smallest size that can be legally exported; these are sometimes listed as “miniature.”
This small size is ideal for growing in water in low dishes. None of the hyacinths require heavy support.
Other Kinds of Hyacinths
Two other hyacinths similar to the Dutch ones are sometimes listed separately. One is ROSALIE, a small bulb producing beautiful tiny stalks of deep rose ahead of all other hyacinths.
Order these as soon as possible; all nurserymen do not carry them, and the supply is limited.
Another unusual variety, listed only by specialty growers, is Bortsx.
Fairy Hyacinth
This is sometimes called fairy hyacinth because of its many graceful spikes of lavender-edged, blue flowers.
Its multiflora habit indicates that it may be mixed with the French-Roman strain. Both grow easily, either in soil or in water.
Dutch Varieties of Hyacinth
For successful culture in water, whether using a single bulb in a special hyacinth glass or a number in bowls, specialists recommend the following Dutch varieties (these will also force equally well in soil):
- L’INNOCENCE, white
- LA VICTOIRE, red
- PINK PEARL, pink
- LADY DERBY, pink
- DUKE OF WESTMINSTER, deep blue
- MYOSOTIS, light blue
- CITY OF HAARLEM, yellow
For soil culture only and extra late bloom, select:
- QUEEN OF WHITES
- QUEEN OF PINKS
- QUEEN OF BLUES
These varieties are hardy and can be replanted in the garden where they will bloom again, but not so handsomely.
They cannot be forced again, however. Discard the bulbs grown in water.
Hyacinths: French-Roman Term
Hyacinths listed as “French-Roman,” a confusing term, are quite different. They are grown in France, matured before the Dutch kinds, and ready for early forcing.
Their habit of growth, too, is quite different. Instead of one flower stalk or perhaps two, several loose graceful stalks spring from each bulb.
You won’t find named varieties among the French-Roman hyacinths but color strains only, with the whites most common. There is also a pink and a blue strain.
Grow in Water or Soil
All can be grown in water or soil but can’t be replanted in the garden for they are too tender except in the South.
By using these extra early tender ones along with the variety ROSALIE, and finishing with extra late varieties, you can have bloomed from before Christmas until Easter. Work it out on paper, along with tulip planting. It’s as clear as crystal, then!
Selecting Tulips
Tulips are all hardy and need to be grown in soil; their roots should develop in the cold as they do when TYPICAL CONTAINERS:
- Crinkle-edged pot
- Bulb pan with drainage holes for soil culture
- Flat dish
- Glasses for water culture; at ends
- Decorative outside pots
… planted in the garden.
Bring Them to a Warm Place
Forcing tulips simply means bringing them into a warm place to hurry the bloom. The date at which forced tulips will bloom is a precise one.
The kinds in the two windows in the photograph bloomed neatly according to schedule, just two days before I left for a winter vacation.
What more could anyone ask?
Don’t try parrot tulips or any species unless you want to experiment.
Pick one or two sure-fire early bloomers like the single and double early tulips or some easy varieties of the triumph, Mendel or. Darwin groups. Each has its special charm.
Dates to Plant
The potting up of both hyacinths and tulips. except those wanted for very early or very late, should be completed by the third week in October.
Unpack bulbs upon receipt. Late varieties of hyacinths should be spread out and kept dry and warm.
Hyacinths will bloom about 3 to 3 ½ months after potting up. If potted in mid-October, tulips will bloom very close to the date indicated in the schedule.
Plantings of early French-Roman hyacinths can be made at 2-week intervals for a succession of blooms.
Potting Up and Storing
Get yourself ready by assembling the clay pots, all with a drainage hole: they should have been cleaned and the new ones soaked.
A good potting mixture is equal parts humus, good garden soil, and sharp sand.
Place tulip bulbs close together in the pot, but not touching. The top third of the bulb should be above the soil line in the pot.
Covering of Hyacinth Bulbs
Hyacinth bulbs should be covered. Press the bulbs down lightly. The soil surface should be about 1 inch below the pot’s rim to facilitate watering. Slip in labels at the side of the pots.
At this stage, just before laying the pots away in the trench, I usually recheck my schedule as I want to place them in rows in the sequence where I shall need to uncover them later.
Hole in the Ground
This trench or pit is nothing but a hole in the ground where all the pots are conveniently assembled for forcing.
A small dug area will accommodate an amazing number, allowing room to manipulate your spade when lifting.
Set the pots deep enough to have their rims 8” to 9” inches below the ground level. Over the tops of the pots, put a 3” inches layer of new, clean sand. Then fill in the rest of the space up to the ground level with the soil.
I usually place a deep layer of salt hay over the trench for extra protection. This material is easy to lift, even after freezing weather. The pot labels, if tall enough, can be seen easily over the layer of salt hay.
Dig Out The Pots
When the time comes to dig out the pots. see that the ones remaining are not left exposed. Water the trench thoroughly.
A cold frame can be used instead, placing a layer of salt hay between the glass and the sunken pots. The glass must be lifted periodically, and the bulbs watered.
Winter Storage of Vegetables
Some gardeners use a cold room suitable also for winter storage of vegetables. In this case, also, the bulbs should be watered.
When using a cold room, there is a danger of mold collecting on the pots; to lessen this place the pots on raised shelves, away from drafts.
Bring The Plants Inside
When the time comes to bring the bulbs in, tap the pots lose and see if the roots are well developed.
Then bring them indoors quickly as the leaf tips will be showing and might be damaged by the cold.
Place the pots in a warm cellar or room at about 65° degrees Fahrenheit. Water with warm water and keep the pots out of the sun.
Give the tulips full light when the leaves are about 4″ inches high.
Tulips will bloom when indicated, but the hyacinths are more uncertain and cannot be hurried.
Placing The Pots of Hyacinths
Place the pots of hyacinths in semi-darkness at 65° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit. Bring them into the light when the flower stalk is well up from the leaves.
If the plant is stubborn, reduce the watering and cover with newspaper. When tulips and hyacinths reach the finishing stage, I feed them with weak liquid manure.
Hyacinths grown in water are kept cool and dark until the roots are well developed. Then bring them to warmth and semi-darkness to force flowering.
A Trick to Try
Why not try lifting some flowering bulbs right out of their pots and combining them with foliage plants?
The soil-grown ROSALIE hyacinth shown in the photograph beside the statue of the Madonna was lifted.
About a week before, the flowers were prime. One soaked the bulbs in cold water, kept them in the dark for a couple of days, and lifted those of similar heights.
Short-stemmed tulips can likewise be lifted; of course, so can any water-grown bulbs.
Pre-Cooling of Bulbs
To achieve extra early bloom, many growers pre-cool their bulbs. Ordinarily, bulbs are planted outdoors; they wait until the earth cools before developing roots.
This waiting period is shortened when the bulbs are cooled for 5 to 6 weeks at a temperature of about 45° degrees Fahrenheit.
Cooled in this way, they usually bloom 3 weeks earlier than normal and have longer flower stems.
Why not try pre-cooling some tulip bulbs in your refrigerator?
However, since the humidity is not constant in the refrigerator, do not expect perfect results.
Tulip Varieties
The following tulip varieties seem to respond to precooling:
- ALBINO
- BARTIOON
- GOLDEN HARVEST
- PAUL RICHTER
- PRINCESS ELIZABETH
- ROSE COPLAND
- DEMETER, and
- WILLIAM PITT
44659 by Marian C. Walker