Pushing spring

forced bulbs

I’ve never really done much with bulb forcing, save for buying pots of force bulbs in full bud from our student horticulture club. I realize now (duh!) that I’ve been missing out on a lot.

Buying the forced bulbs when they are about to bloom is great. But now I realize that I’ve missed out on what I like most about bulbs: Watching for the first signs of green poking up. The logarithmic growth stage where you swear you can see them growing. The appearance of the flower buds. And the first sign of color peeking out from the flower bud.

You miss all that fun when you buy a pot just as they’re blooming.

This vase my old buddy Steve gave me for my 50th last year is perfect for forcing bulbs with a little fish gravel and water.

forced bulbs

The big bud on that narcissus in the tea pot popped open while I was at work today.

forced bulbs

The albutilon hidden away with the other plants that are supposed to be in semi-dormancy keeps popping out flowers, along with the begonia. They look good in the blue bowl.

blooms in blue bowl

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8 thoughts on “Pushing spring”

  1. Looks like spring to me! I love the teapot narcissus (and that funny little bottle stopper guy keeping them company). No doubt it makes the office smell fabulous. I forced a few paperwhites for Christmas and loved watching them burst ever taller every day. They were gorgeous but smelllly & not in a good way. Reminds me that I took about 100 pictures as they were first opening but never posted them. You’ve reminded me that I should. Thanks for the beauty.
    p.s. way nice b-day vase!

  2. It’s heavy plate glass. Or at least that’s how I’d describe it, not knowing really what plate glass is.

  3. This is a fun thing to do. I hadn’t done anything more than think about forcing bulbs before this year when I was gifted with a pot and some bulbs. I will have to rethink this for next spring and get more bulbs. Such fun to watch as the roots begin to emerge, etc as you say.

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