garden withindoors

the bulb bowls are not very forgiving of bulb defects - the bulbs are all on display whereas imperfections are not so visible if the bulb is in the cup of a hyacinth vase

only this bulb bowl is large enough to hold 5 bulbs, the others are too small and the bulbs are too big

I received the remaining bulb orders a couple days ago so was able to spend yesterday (after it stopped raining) putting them in vases, filling the vases with water (to just below the bulb) and putting them in the cellar.  

one of my special animal friends came in the back door to see what I was doing

after choosing which hyacinth variety to go in each vase:

the new bulbs are looking, at least superficially, better than the ones I received last week, Sky Jacket:

prepared Delft Blue

comparison of 2 different supplier's Delft Blue hyacinth bulbs

Splendid Cornelia hyacinth bulbs (unprepared) which I am going to use exactly as I use the prepared bulbs, ie into the cellar for 12-15 weeks, I've done that before and had reasonable results

Miss Saigon hyacinth bulbs:

Anne Marie hyacinth bulbs:

mid-September

I received one delivery of prepared hyacinth bulbs this week so still awaiting 3 more. It's difficult to sort out all the vases and which bulbs are going in each if I don't have all the bulbs but I thought I should start the ones I have. Fitzroy (neighbour's cat) keeping me company.

Some of the Delft Blue bulbs are not looking very good but I'm going to see how they do and see how other supplier bulbs are in case it's common among all this year's bulbs and see if the mould and splitting affects the flowers. One of the Fairy White bulbs was completely rotten, soft and oozing. Surprisingly I've never had such a bulb but as last year I just chose my own from the garden centre bins I could leave one of those behind.

I couldn't leave the vases on the table outside for long as the foxes regularly jump up there.

first week of September

I have noted the prepared hyacinths I have on order; still awaiting deliveries. 

Of course, I cannot resist the odd impulse purchase. I have tried a few bulb items from Sainsbury's in the past so wanted to see what this year's bulbs were like. They don't even tell you the variety on the packs so these are certainly for the casual gardener. Still unsure if these are going in garden indoors or outdoors. Last year the daffodils did better and earlier outside than inside, same with the crocus. I'll certainly put them in pots even if they are outdoors. The hyacinths I will probably use in pots/containers some indoors and some outdoors.

these tete-a-tete daffodils were inside but no sign of buds, after a few weeks outdoors they are blooming - well after the daffs that were outside from day 1 finished and here's a hyacinth on a plant that was blooming indoors weeks ago, now having an unexpected second flush of flowers

these crocus were some of my indoor bulbs now blooming outside, I thought they were finished and I discovered they were still blooming

I went to the Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden exhibit at the Queens Gallery earlier this week where I saw this Sevres bulb pot. I'm always interested to see how bulbs are grown indoors.

at this time of year there's some overlap with bulbs indoors and bulbs outdoors

this little pot I had planted with crocus was inside, I put it outside when all the crocus appeared to be spent but at the end of March I see this crocus is blooming in the pot outside

this pot of muscari was outside but I've brought it inside for a bit of colour after all the other bulbs indoors are finished

these tulips have been outside but when I brought them inside recently they burst into bloom, certainly better than the tulips I had in the truffle bottles inside (after a period in the cellar) that never bloomed properly, these are Van Tubergen's miniature tulips from Sainsburys - seem as good as the bulbs from the garden centre

the non-blooming tulip bulbs in the truffle bottles, below

The golden syrup tin on the right and the squirrel planter to the right of that have tete-a-tete daffodils and have been indoors since I planted them up last autumn, none of which are showing any buds whereas the pots to the left and in bloom and looking fabulous have been outside since being planted up with tete-a-tete daffodils last autumn.

Muscari in bloom having been outside since last autumn.

the muscari in the cat pot were supposed to be forced indoors but after period in the cellar I had to put it outside with such extensive leaf growth

still waiting for any buds on the muscari in the M+S jug

now that the irises shown below have finished the muscari is now the focus of this rack of pots, outside the muscari are blooming as well (pic to follow), there's no forcing these, muscari will bloom when they are good and ready! regardless of M+S and other shops selling them as forcing bulbs

a close-up of some of the irises on the windowsill

a whole view of the plants shown in the close-up above

crocus blooms after they've been inside on the windowsill a couple days

a period outside has helped these bulbs, the hyacinth has a second bloom and the crocus has a couple more buds ready to open

some time outside and then being brought inside has forced these irises to bloom, as well as the crocus

I was just tidying up the patio and saw these yellow crocus buds on this crocus so I brought the rack of pots inside and a little while later it has burst into bloom, I assume because of the warmth indoors.

and a couple days later:

I just can't stop taking pics of this crocus, it's just a perfect example of an idoor bloom, if only all my bulbs could turn out so beautiful

purple large Dutch crocus

In my experience muscari will not bloom until they are good and ready and not a day before. There's no forcing them. The jug of muscari (below) was from M+S and has luxuriant leaf growth but no sign of any buds. The little silver pot next to it I planted up myself, also no buds. And in the following pic are some pots with muscari with the same leaf growth but no buds. Some I attempted to force but moved them from the cellar to outdoors when the leaves were so large.

this is a close-up (below) of the white pot (above): long-leaved muscari and hyacinths in the middle

It's also time to consider the results of forcing iris. Aside from a couple of flowers most of the bulbs are now shriveled. Iris were in the front row below: a Golden Syrup tin, kitsch vase with the stylised peacocks, Shorter bluebird trough and a couple of the terracotta pots.

these are the last hyacinths I had indoors, time to shift attention to outdoors where the first hyacinths are coming out, when I lifted these bulbs to check them they had no roots

Little Beauty tulips