January 16, 2020 – Cheap thrill
This
year, unknown to my brother Ken, I plunked an eight-inch clay bulb pot in the
garden. I sunk it so that the top of the
rim would be the same level as the soil level of the garden. I filled it with fresh potting soil, and
planted six Hyacinth bulbs in it and topped it with more fresh potting soil. I know where it is, wander down to the
garden, and check on it every couple of weeks.
The
objective – in February when the green tips of growth start to show, I will lift
it out of the garden soil, haul it to a warm area – probably the back of the
house and put a plastic cellar well over it so that it gets late afternoon
warmth to bring it along. I’ll turn it every couple days so that the growth
will be even. When the pot has about 2 to
3 inches of growth, I will bring it into the house and watch the explosion of
color in the next few weeks and enjoy the beyond-comprehension-fragrance that fills the room.
It
is called the art of “forcing bulbs” and should be in every gardener’s repertoire. Paper whites and hyacinths are easy. Read up about them at the link below.
A
week or so ago, my brother, Ken, mentioned he’d gotten a hyacinth vase with a
hyacinth coming along, I smiled and said I hadn’t seen any in a few years. The next day, I fell over a new shipment of
them at Aldi’s and snapped one up. Cheap
thrill at $2.99 each – which is less than a Starbuck’s Latte.
If
you’ve never experienced one of these – it is worth twice that price. The bulb sits just above the water and when
the roots grown down during the cooling period, they come in contact with the
water and long white roots grow. I
suggest you keep it where you can watch it daily. I keep mine beside the coffee maker in front
of the kitchen window, which does get bright light and a glimpse of afternoon sun. I turn it daily so that it grows straight.
When
it comes into bloom, the fragrance will knock you out. A fragrance I cannot find the words to
describe. But, once you’ve smelled a
hyacinth, you’ll recognize it easily again.
A
few years ago, a girlfriend came to visit me in early spring, and before she
even said Hello, she asked, “What is that fragrance, where is it coming from –
show me.” She hadn’t even mounted the
steps to come in.
“It
is just the hyacinths,” I answered and joined her on the steps in bare feet in
early spring and proceeded to walk up the sidewalk to a small display of “Delft
blue” hyacinths, which are low to the ground – maybe 6 to 8 inches, abutting the
curve in the sidewalk.
“Just
those made that much fragrance?”
“Yup,”
I said softly breathing in the heavenly scent of pending spring.
“I
want some of those,” she said.
I am
not one to cut hyacinths – as they are fleeting in the vase, so I wasn’t about
to share what was in bloom or coming into bloom that year. Besides, I had relatively few in my garden.
“You
buy the bulbs in the fall and plant them.”
“Oh,”
she said disappointed, as I have experienced that sound of disappointment before
by non-gardener friends.
It
is a case of buying bulbs in the fall and shoving them into the gloomy, wet,
fall soil, which is contrary to half of the population as they think gardening
is done for the season. Not so for the
real gardeners – the ones that plan ahead and work the magic of the gardener’s calendar. Bulb
gardeners are optimists.
We
take a lifeless looking bulb and shove it into cold ground, cover it and pat
the soil over lovingly and know we will get something exciting in the spring –
crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, tulips . . . countless flowers from dozens of
different types of bulbs.
This
morning, the hyacinth near my coffee maker came into fragrance. I carried it over to my husband’s nose and he
said, “ahhh”.
We
will have several days of “sniffs” and “ahhs”.
Check at your local flower shop or fresh market to see if you can snag
one to enjoy. If not, make a note in your calendar to buy fall bulbs so that
you can join the optimist club.
Below
is an excellent source of bulb forcing.
One
cannot plant enough daffodils in one’s lifetime. - TYS
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