Blogs

I am experimenting with the Golden Syrup tins to try to get the best effect. A hyacinth bulb on it's own is just too tall and falls over, especially without a window to lean it against (for the centre of the tables at Chin Chin).  Cutting the hyacinth short and packing the tin with shells, although pebbles or grit would work as well, to hold up the cut flowers seems to work better.

I don't know what makes the £1 daffodils from Sainsburys open. Water? Sun? Heat? or how long it takes. I was at first pleased to get a whole bunch for only £1 but I soon realized, they aren't actually in bloom!

It's time to plant the spent hyacinths outside, weather permitting. In the past it's been too cold. This year it's too wet! I do see some hyacinths from previous years are coming up.

I just threw quite a number of the spent hyacinths on the flower beds awaiting planting. Those pink ones that didn't bloom properly went on the compost pile but the successful Delft Blue  (of which I had many) I am going to plant in the ground.

With so hyacinths wilting they initially ended up on the table. I have limited space inside for the bulbs and pots so I removed them as soon as they wilted.

The next day one of the red tulips is opening up.

This is my first (only?) yellow crocus in bloom. I generally prefer purple crocus but this definitely looks very cheerful the first sunny day in a while at the beginning of February.

yesterday it was still in bud

These tulips have done amazing this year. Every day I look at them, another is in bloom. That little blue and white pot in the middle is from Culpeper (as is one of the flower bricks). They certainly had some nice porcelain items before they went out of business. That Marie hyacinth in the green glass pot is just struggling to bloom but I don't think it's going to make it.

The Woodstock hyacinths are in bloom. My last ones, sadly. Just below that windowsill is a radiator - the worst place to put forced bulbs! but unfortunately I don't have anyplace else to put these. We all have to do the best we can with what we have.

Here are the latest tulips to bloom and another crocus. I started this Woodstock hyacinth extremely late. I'm not sure it's going to bloom.

These are the 3 Carnegie hyacinths I grew this year, including both of my terracotta vases

This was a very surprising bulblet. It managed to get so big before I noticed it. Next thing I knew it was in bloom.

couple more tulips have bloomed today, the one on the left has mutliple buds - I've never had that on a tulip before

my first tulips (Little Beauty) in bloom

I bought some unprepared hyacinths (Woodstock, Marie and Ibis) and put them in the fridge for 6 weeks to prepare them myself so they were later  than everything else. One Woodstock is in bloom (below) and the remaining ones are in the pots pictured below that.

These are some of the final hyacinths: Marie and Woodstock I prepared myself.

This is the small crocus from the photo above.

This is the Marie hyacinth from the amethyst vase above. No wonder it's so small, the roots are miniscule. I don't know why.

I see the Marie bulbs are quite a dark colour (in the golden syrup tin), quite distinctive from the Woodstock.

These Woodstock are incredibly thin and the buds quite small. They are all like that so obviously naturally so.

My City of Haarlem hyacinths, probably as much as they're going to bloom. Why do I try this variety over and over again? It never works, much as I hope. Why do the suppliers bother to prepare them? They never work!

The two tall hyacinths on the right are Sky Jacket. They are generally quite tall with thin flowers, compared to the Delft Blue on the left which is a fat full flower. Notice the secondary stem. That was a bulblet I hadn't noticed until it bloomed. To the left of that is a white Carnegie hyacinth. To the right is a Bristol green vase I bought quite late, too late to grow a hyacinth in this season.

After seeing the flower bricks on Antiques Roadshow yesterday, I was inspired to push the hyacinth vases to one side, buy some inexpensive flowers and have a go at arranging them in my (reproduction) flower bricks. I did not know which were the best flowers to use and how many of each but in this case I was limited by availability and budget. This time it's red tulips and purple iris.

The stems are much too long. I've had to force myself to trim them even more. It's painful

but I see they do look better. One flower in each hole I think would be too much and wouldn't even fit.

The holes in the Winterthur brick are smaller, too small for the tulips and irises. The greenery that came with the irises just fits.

I need to see how the iris look when in bloom. I'll probably have to shorten them even further.  I've filled all the bricks with water (through the larger central hole). I think that's a good number of tulips in the Culpeper brick.

I have not been able to find any period examples of flower bricks with flowers (eg paintings or illustrations) but from my experimentation I think less is more, the smaller the better with flower size and not every hole needs a stem in it. I will try other kinds of flowers and post results here.

a couple days later and the iris are in bloom, I think they are too big for the "vase" and overwhelm the flower brick, I will look out for other flowers to try

My hyacinths are looking spectacular. I notice that some of the Delft Blue hyacinths are darker than others, with a really intense purple colour. I guess they get lighter with age.

Aren't hyacinths naughty when a pair of vases has two such differently-sized flowers?

All of the hyacinths in my Tye vases finished early. As I was putting them away I noticed one felt much heavier so I decided to weigh them. They should, in theory, all weigh the same if they are being moulded with the same mould, but they don't. I guess different amounts of glass are put in. Left to right, they are 403g (amethyst), 453g (green), 397g, 477g, 370g (all 3 cobalt blue). They are all the vases that are impressed "Gt Charles St, Birmingham, GPTye" to the base, none with the date (4th November 1850?).

above is my first crocus

This hyacinth, on the left below, has straightened up just in the last few days (see earlier photo below). I think this page proves that Delft Blue is "the" hyacinth variety for forcing - or my favourite anyway! The only downside is it doesn't bloom for Christmas, it's 2 or 3 weeks later, but it gives reliable, excellent results.

This hyacinth is still bent at a 90-degree angle.

these bulb bowls and pots have been a great success this year

I think these are Delft Blue

I incorrectly said I though these were Blue Star hyacinths but they can't be because I only bought 3 of those and put them in vases so these must be Delft Blue.

I think these are Delft Blue

Finally some large Delft Blue purple hyacinth blooms, in a SylvaC pot.

Broste Copenhagen jack-in-the-pulpit hyacinth vases. Not sure which variety these are.

Cranberry hyacinth vase with Delft Blue hyacinth bulb.

The bulblet in the first photo below is surprisingly well-developed but still needs to be removed  (see next photo) to allow the main stem and blooms the best chance.

Hyacinth bulb bowl (from Past Times) on the left, crocus bowl on the right.

Biscuit barrel used as a hyacinth planter. It would be nice if the hyacinth wasn't bent over at a 90-degree angle. Sometimes they do that, sometimes they staighten up on their own.

These are the last vases out of the cellar. Some don't look that ready, even after all this time, but I figure if they aren't ready now, they're never going to be. I think that purple one in the middle and the small green one at the bottom have a certain variety of hyacinth - they have quite a different look- will check which ones. On the right in the pot are bulblets and some crocus.

This is the worst amaryllis I've ever had. It never bloomed properly, just shriveled up and died.