crocus bulbs in Wedgwood hedghog and crocus vases

As I'm home sick with covid (after a booster vaccination in October!) I organised my crocus bulb forcing. I positioned crocus bulbs with their stems through the holes in the Wedgwood hedgehog. I then filled with compost. It got a bit dirty while trying to organise that so must wipe it off.

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs

if the crocus bulbs had stems sticking out the sides, I removed them

crocus bulb

without those extra stems, the energy can go into the main stem

crocus bulb

I filled each vase with water. Unlike hyacinths, crocus bulbs need to sit in the water to kick-start them into growth. Those two vases on the right have the colour painted on and it's flaking off. I decided not to use them as I have enough other vases. Rocky came to sit on the table.

crocus vases Wedgwood hedgehog

when I got a box to put the hedgehog and vases in to put them into the cellar, Rocky, being a typical cat, had to investigate the box

I guess I'm going to need another box

a couple days later, I was in the cellar and thought I'd check the bulbs and saw the crocus bulbs already have roots starting - bulbs are magic - give them water and they grow

crocus bulb with roots

crocus bulb with roots

amaryllis bulbs in vases and pots

My amaryllis bulbs arrived this week (I was very late in ordering them), Victor was pleased to have a new box.

I ordered 6 bulbs forgetting I only have 3 vases so had to scramble around improvising pots: Amaryllis Apple Blossom in the tall clear vase on the left and the light green pot at the back on the right; Amaryllis Minerva in the red vase and the Adams biscuit barrel; Amaryllis White Amadeus in the dark green glass pot at the front on the left and the shorter clear vase at the back, second from left.

amaryllis in vases and pot

I am still unsure what to do with the Sternbergia lutea. Most were in the dark for the last few weeks but I took them out yesterday as they all have root and leaf development. I still don't know how they bloom September / October when I didn't even receive the bulbs until the end of October.

sternbergia lutea

starting more hyacinth bulbs in vases

A few more vases to use, a few are new ebay purchases and the small ones on the right I thought I would buy those small hyacinth bulbs from Sainsbury's but they don't have them so just using the bulbs I have. 1 pack of Aqua hyacinth bulbs left so using them for a bulb bowl. Socky keeping me company. At least one cat usually comes to the table when I'm doing bulbs.

forcing hyacinths in vases

bulb bowl with Aqua hyacinth bulbs, I have too many bulb bowls and nowhere to put them so just using 1 this year, the bowl and the vases are filled with water to just below the bulbs and put into the dark for a few weeks

hyacinth bulb bowl

Sternbergia lutea which I am not sure about. I've not grown them before so not sure what to do, especially as the label says they bloom Sept / Oct. Well I only just received them! Do they go into the dark like hyacinths? Do they stay out? I've put all of them into the dark except that on the left which looks like it has a flower bud in the stem.

sternbergia lutea

Before I decided to put them in the dark I had put them on the windowsill, two of the stems broke off in transit. I hope they recover.

sternbergia lutea

time to start forcing hyacinths

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.

hyacinth bulbs for forcing

hyacinth bulbs for forcing

hyacinth bulbs for forcing

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

hyacinth bulbs for forcing

Delft Blue, "the" haycinth bulb for forcing

Delft Blue hhyacinth bulbs

Jan Bos hyacinth bulbs

Jan Bos hyacinth bulbs

Blue Eyes hyacinth bulbs

Blue Eyes hyacinth bulbs

Aiolos 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

Gypsy Queen hyacinth bulbs

Blue Star hyacinth bulbs

Blue Star hyacinth bulbs

Miss Saigon haycinth bulbs

Miss Saigon hyacinth bulbs

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

aqua hyacinth bulbs

Sky Jacket hyacinth bulbs

Sky Jacket hyacinth bulbs

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

Sky Planet hyacinth bulbs

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

Caribbean Dream hyacinth bulbs

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

Pink Surprise hyacinth bulbs

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

hyacinth bulbs and vases

February 2022

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

pink pearl forced hyacinths

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

Blue Jacket forced hyacinth

last Delft Blue hyacinth for this year

Delft Blue forced hyacinth in a hyacinth vase

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

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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

hyacinth vases with bulbs without roots

January 2022

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

hyacinths

middle 3 Blue Jacket hyacinths from above

Blue Jacket hyacinths

Delft Blue hyacinth, one of the best flowers this year

Delft Blue hyacinths

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.

hyacinths

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

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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

forced Blue Jacket hyacinths

Delft Blue hyacinth in Tye uranium vase

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

forced Delft Blue hyacinths

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.

forced Delft Blue hyacinths in hyacinth vases

some of my best blooms this year

Delft Blue forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

this is my best bloom this year, Blue Jacket hyacinth

forced Delft Blue hyacinth

Delft Blue hyacinth buds just opening

Delft Blue hyacinths flowers and buds in hyacinth vases

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. 

forced hyacinths in bloom in hyacinth vases

forced hyacinths in bud in hyacinth vases

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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.

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

17-1-2022

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

hyacinths in bud

hyacinth buds in hyacinth vases

forced hyacinth buds

forced hyacinth buds

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

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus

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

bent forced hyacinths

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

Tye uranium hyacinth vases

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

Tye uranium hyacinth vase with chips

some hyacinths and cats this morning 15-1-2022

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus in bloom 13-1-2022

wedgwood hedgehog crocus

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

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vase

Delft Blue hyacinths, Blue Sapphire hyacinth back left

Delft Blue hyacinth buds

delft blue hyacinth buds

Blue Sapphire hyacinths 10-1-2022

Blue Sapphire hyacinths

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

wedgwood hedgehog crocus

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

hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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

forced hyacinth

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

wedgwood hedgehog with crocus

double-stemmed Blue Jacket hyacinth bulb

double-stemmed Blue Jacket hyacinth bulb

White Pearl hyacinths 4-1-2022

forced white pearl hyacinths in hyacinth vases

Happy New Year 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

forced hyacinths out of dark

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 1-1-2022

bulb bowls

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

forced hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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

hyacinths in bloom and bud

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 1-1-2022

forced hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs 1-1-2022

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs

hyacinths in bud and bloom

White Pearl hyacinths in bud 30-12-2021

forced white pearl hyacinths hyacinths in hyacinth vases

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

forced Jan Bos hyacinths in Davidson bulb bowl

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 29-12-2021

forced hyacinths in bulb bowls

Delft Blue hyacinths in bloom 29-12-2021

forced hyacinths in bloom in hyacinth vases

hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls 29-12-2021

forced hyacinths in bloom in bulb bowls

Merry Christmas!

hyacinths in bloom Christmas day 2021

hyacinths in bloom Christmas day 2021

3rd Week in December

some hyacinths in bloom and bud the day before Christmas Eve

forced hyacinths for Christmas

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

forced hyacinths in bud before Christmas

hyacinths in bloom a few days before Christmas

Davidson hyacinth bulb bowl

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs turning green and fat

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs

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