garden withindoors

more crocus in bloom everyday in the Wedgwood hedgehog

the next hyacinths with fat buds

more crocus bulbs starting to bloom in the Wedgwood hedgehog

It is the peak time for the forced hyacinths.

the next wave of Deflt Blue hyacinths is replacing those on the mantel

Pink Pearl hyacinths

I forgot to post this photo of the Jan Bos hyacinths from 10 days ago, one of the earliest hyacinth varieties to bloom.

Delft Blue hyacinths in the middle, Pacific Ocean hyacinths on the left

the first crocus in bloom in the Wedgwood hedgehog

Woodstock hyacinths just starting to bloom, obviously a later variety, only 2 in bloom so far

Sadly, some of the problem bulbs.

bent hyacinths that never straightened up, I still don't know why this happens

Some of the other Delft Blue hyacinths that didn't bloom well properly. There's always a proportion of the bulbs that don't perform well.

Although the Sky Jacket hyacinths looked interesting in bud, they have not bloomed well and the bulbs have shrunk and are falling through into the water. And one of them is bent over.

some huge fat gorgeous hyacinths, the bulb bowl hyacinths are so variable, some bloomed some did not so I replanted those in soil

that hyacinth in the middle had a flower that was finished so I cut that stem to allow the small second flowering stem to bloom

I don't know why sometimes the hyacinths are bent over, some straighten up, some do not

as soon as I take out the spreadsheet to note dates of blooming and how the hyacinths are looking, my cat Victor wants to sit on it but I rescued it before he sat down but not before he walked on it with muddy paws

hyacinths in bloom on Christmas Eve

These hyacinths, with the bulge (the buds moving from the bulb up the stem) in the stem, are ready to come out of the dark. The cause of many failed hyacinths is taking them out of the dark too early and then the hyacinths do not bloom properly.

hyacinths are often bent over like this and most will straighten up as they grow

crocus bulbs growing in the Wedgwood hedgehog

hyacinths growing on pebbles in a bowl

Merry Christmas!

more hyacinths in bloom in some of my favourite vases: tall late Georgian or early Victorian hand-blown, the cobalt blue is my favourite colour; I have a lot of fat buds so will definitely have flowers for Christmas day

a couple days later those two very tall hyacinth flowers

a number of the other hyacinth flowers, still developing

the hyacinth on the right is from Sainsbury's which came in a mixed pack of unnamed varieties, looks like Splendid Cornelia

These are today's hyacinths, 16-12-2019.

Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs. The crocus are getting nice and fat and I hope there will be some nice flowers soon.

I don't like appearing in photos but this is just about acceptable, hidden by hyacinths on the mantelpiece in my living room. Those Jan Bos are obviously the earliest bloomers this year.

first hyacinths in bloom, 14-12-2019, Jan Bos

Pacific Ocean, a variety of hyacinth I have not used before but trying it this year for the first time. It looks a little small so far. First photo above shows this in bloom a couple days later.

another small sparse hyacinth, this one from Sainsbury's, in a small vintage glass jug, also more in bloom in first photo above

I got the printout of the spreadsheet I use to keep track of the hyacinths to update but Victor promptly decided to sit on it - so that wasn't going to be possible!

Bulb bowls have their pros and cons. The first bulb bowl I took out of the dark end of November looked pretty good with all the bulbs at a similar stage of development (see below). These bulb bowls have hyacinths that vary quite a lot. Some of the hyacinths really need to come out of the dark, some could do with longer in the dark. Difficult if they're in the same bulb bowl. A lot of the roots were growing outwards rather that through the hole into the water. I tried to push some back in but they just broke so only did that with one bowl.

That one bulb in the green Davidson bulb bowl that is not growing is soft and rotten so I disposed of that and examined the other two bulbs from that bowl and see that the roots are rotting, soft and transparent. Usually hyacinth roots are white and brittle. I removed the soft rotting roots and there are still some white brittle roots left so thought they'd be worth planting in compost.

checking the bulbs that aren't very well developed in the other bowls reveals they don't have roots

this pot had 3 bulbs but one not growing so removed it - it's soft and oozing

I decided to just leave the roots however they were after the failed attempt to push them into the water. Below they are growing into one of the small ventilation holes, sure the hyacinth will bloom just fine with the roots as they are.

I have never seen hyacinth roots like this with brown on the tips of the roots. Intriguing as I've been forcing hyacinths for years and thought I'd seen it all.

The crocus are still looking a bit pale but guess it's the inner leaves that are green,

some small tulips in the Shorter and Sons trough, lots of roots growing from the crocus bulbs in the vases

some more pale yellowish hyacinths out of the dark, easy to see the difference with the green ones that have been out for a week

I will be at the Castlehaven WinterFest on December 13th selling some of the hyacinths to benefit Mama Cat Trust Fox Rescue

Things are happening quickly now with all the crocus vases and 30 hyacinth vases out of the cellar. The hyacinths need to be out of the dark by December 1st to bloom for Christmas so I have many well on the way.

Growing Amaryllis in Vases

the amaryllis have stages they go through

1. bulbs into vases with the initial dry roots

2. those existing roots rot and turn the water black, the bulbs have new green shoots

3. I rinse out the vases, remove the rotting roots, add fresh water