ju1i3's blog

My bulbs were delivered this week, all 114 of them (!). Not much room on the table for the cats but they find a way. I put a bulb in each vase which I had filled with water to just under the bulb (the bulb mustn't sit in water). I put all the vases in my cellar in the dark. I'll start checking them in a few weeks.

I thought the hyacinth bulbs might not be very good this year after a summer of drought and heatwave but they look great. Scarecrow had to check them out.

Rocky, only Scarecrow and Rocky came came to supervise my bulb forcing this year.

Delft Blue, "the" haycinth bulb for forcing

Jan Bos hyacinth bulbs

Blue Eyes hyacinth bulbs

Aiolos hyacinth bulbs

Gypsy Queen hyacinth bulbs, I thought I'd used these before but I don't remember the silvery colour - love it

Blue Star hyacinth bulbs

Miss Saigon haycinth bulbs

Aqua hyacinth bulbs, a new variety I have not used before

Sky Jacket hyacinth bulbs

Sky Planet hyacinth bulbs, a new variety I have not used before

Caribbean Dream hyacinth bulbs, a large variety I buy to use in my largest  vases but this year the Blue Eyes bulbs look even larger

Pink Surprise hyacinth bulbs, a new variety I've not used before and the only bulbs this year that don't look very good, all are split and don't look very good in a vase so I've used them in vases where the shape covers them a bit

Socky came to supervise starting the final 15 hyacinths a couple days later

small Pink Pearl hyacinth bulbs - so small they fit in crocus vases - but blooming beautifully and one Delft Blue normal-sized hyacinth

Blue Jacket double-stemmed hyacinth, in a vintage pickle jar improvised as a hyacinth vase

last Delft Blue hyacinth for this year

last Blue Jacket hyacinth, on the left, for this year, small Pink Pearl hyacinths on the right, first starting to bloom

it's time to give up on these 3, no roots

30-1-2022 some of the final hyacinths of the forcing season

middle 3 Blue Jacket hyacinths from above

Delft Blue hyacinth, one of the best flowers this year

I didn't start the small hyacinths in the right until mid-December. Wasn't sure they'd have time to bloom but they're looking pretty good considering the late start.

25-1-2022 Delft Blue except 3 Blue Jacket on the right

closer view of the Blue Jacket hyacinths, Hornsea bulb pot on the right, 2 cranberry vases with "prongs" on the left - not "official" hyacinth vases but I love putting hyacinth bulbs in any vase that will hold them - and these work very well, some of my best blooms this year

Delft Blue hyacinth in Tye uranium vase

some of my outstanding hyacinths this year, all Delft Blue, Tye vases at the front, glassroots cranberry vase and tall cobalt blue and amethyst 19th century vases at the back

21-1-2022 no wonder Delft Blue is "the" hyacinth variety for forcing - gorgeous fat flowerheads and wonderful scent. The flower on the left in the cranberry pronged vase is Blue Jacket, got it mixed up with the Delft Blue hyacinths.

some of my best blooms this year

this is my best bloom this year, Blue Jacket hyacinth

Delft Blue hyacinth buds just opening

20-1-2022 Although it's nice to have hyacinths in bloom on Christmas Day, the peak time for the forced hyacinth blooms is January. 

19-1-2022 Most of my hyacinths are by my kitchen windowsill as it gets the most light but these are in my living room on the mantel (mirror behind the vases). I was watching tv last night and realized I could smell hyacinths! I haven't been able to smell much as my sense of smell was affected by having covid last October. It's finally coming back. It only takes 2 hyacinth flowerheads to generate that wonderful smell.

17-1-2022

hyacinths in bud

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus, white crocus in bloom, wilted purple crocus flowers

bent Delft Blue hyacinths, after years of forcing hyacinths, I still don't know what causes this or how to rectify it

pair of Tye uranium hyacinth vases, sadly the one on the left has chips on the rim

close-up of the chips on the rim of the Tye uranium hyacinth vase

some hyacinths and cats this morning 15-1-2022

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus in bloom 13-1-2022

photo-bombed by 3 black cats - and a black hyacinth vase, my latest purchase from ebay, this is the first time I've bought this type of vase 10-1-2022

Delft Blue hyacinths, Blue Sapphire hyacinth back left

Delft Blue hyacinth buds

Blue Sapphire hyacinths 10-1-2022

I'm not sure what hyacinth variety this is, I didn't buy any pink hyacinths, I think the bins of bulbs at the garden centre must have gotten mixed up

crocus in Wedgwood hedgehog, Delft Blue hyacinths

White Pearl hyacinths on the left, Blue Sapphire in the middle, Delft Blue on the right

hyacinth (from Sainsbury's) in bloom 5-1-2022

crocus just starting to bloom in the Wedgwood hedgehog 5-1-2022

double-stemmed Blue Jacket hyacinth bulb

White Pearl hyacinths 4-1-2022

hyacinths out of the dark 1-1-2022 with Victor in the background; the shoots are quite yellow when the hyacinths first come out of the dark and they green up in a couple days

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 1-1-2022

hyacinths in bloom and bud in hyacinth vases 1-1-2022

hyacinths in bloom and bud in vases and bowls 1-1-2022

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 1-1-2022

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs 1-1-2022

White Pearl hyacinths in bud 30-12-2021

on closer examination of the Jan Bos hyacinths in the Davidson bulb bowl, 2 of the 3 bulbs have 2 stems, one with a wilting flower, one with a fresh flower

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 29-12-2021

Delft Blue hyacinths in bloom 29-12-2021

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 29-12-2021

hyacinths in bloom Christmas day 2021

some hyacinths in bloom and bud the day before Christmas Eve

lots of fat hyacinth buds, I look forward to flowers soon

hyacinths in bloom a few days before Christmas

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs turning green and fat

These hyacinths are developing well. These will be my first in bloom, hopefully in time for Christmas.

Beginning of December, first hyacinths are ready to come out of the dark. I think they need to be out for 3 weeks before they bloom so that gives a good chance for blooms on Christmas Day.

when the bulge of the flower has grown out of the bulb, they are ready to come out of the dark

a common failure of forced hyacinths is taking them out of the dark too early, but as long as that bulge is in the stem, they are ready to come into the light, these are ready

definitely ready to come out of the dark into the light

these are more than ready - not only is the bulge of the flower grown out of the bulb but one is starting to open, I'm probably a bit late taking this bulb bowl out of the dark (Davidson uranium glass bulb bowl)

The hyacinth bulb bowls in the cellar, notice what different stages of development the hyacinths are - some are ready to come into the light, some not at all. The downside of using bulb bowls. 

A few days later, I brought up one of the bulb bowls as some of the hyacinths are so ready even if all of the bulbs in a bowl are not at the same stage. Rocky cannot resist playing with the hyacinth bulbs.

Forcing bulbs can be challenging. This year I was delayed suffering from Covid (despite having both vaccinations) so finally planting up the hedgehog mid-November, later than I would have liked.

I broke off the shoots coming out of the sides and bottom of the bulbs. They won't be able to grow in the hedgehog and they will take energy away from the main shoots.

Somehow I've managed to make two errors. A couple of the holes do not have bulbs in them - it was very difficult to get them positioned properly and I missed some. And only this morning (after planting it up yesterday), I realised I used some of the mixed crocus rather than just the Record variety which I intended. With different bulbs they will bloom at different times as they did last year so wanted to have the same but did not go according to plan! I will try to be more organised next year.