How I Force Bulbs in to Bloom In My Home:

I happened to be meandering through the grocery store the other day and noticed these little bulbs for sale for a very inexpensive price. It gave me a feeling that spring is right around the corner and I felt the urge to buy them. I bought mini-hyacinths and mini-daffodils. I also bought a bag of white mini gravel to plant them in.
I love planting in my garden, I love planting in pots on my porch and patio, but in all honesty I do not consider myself a talented or fabulous gardener.  It is just a hobby I enjoy very much. To be completely honest, I was not exactly sure what I was going to do with these  as I have no experience with planting bulbs indoors. I decided to  plant them in thrifted decorative containers in my home and see if they would survive. Guess what, it worked, they all bloomed and survived. Oh my goodness, they are so very pretty placed around my living room and with them they bring  joy and the  promise of spring.I choose my containers, a shallow silver bowl with little feet and a footed white vase. I lined them both with white grocery bags to both protect them and to fill them a little. I filled the containers about one third of the way with the white gravel. I popped the bulbs out of their little containers and detangled them from each other.  This was not easy as I did loose some of the roots but I worked at them gently and used some running water to help loosen them from each other.

After placing them, I filled the rest of the planter with the gravel. I found it easier to pour the gravel in around the bulb and then to gently pull the bulb upward and out of the gravel so that it is not completely buried. About the top third of the bulb should be exposed but all the roots should be planted.

The trickiest part of this procedure is watering.  

These bulbs need water but not tons of it. The bulb cannot sit in a pool of water, it is important fill the planter with water to the bottom of the bulb, in this case it was approximately one half inch below the top of the rocks.  The roots are what the bulb uses to take in water and they will work their way through the gravel to get a drink. This is dependent on the size of your bulbs, the length of the roots and the depth of the container. It really is just trial and error. I over watered the daffodils and believe that it shortened their bloom time. Because my planters were not transparent I would add water and poke my finger into the rocks to make sue the level was not too high……this is not very scientific but it seemed to work. 

Having Flowers blooming in the house in very early spring is so uplifting.

I have lots of windows and my bulbs enjoyed sunny but not too hot spots in my home. This is such a fun process and having flowers blooming in my home during the cold winter months was such an extravagant pleasure. I could not help myself, I bought a couple more. These are hyacinths and I am still waiting on them to bloom.

I highly recommend having a go at planting some bulbs. This is a very inexpensive way to add some color and extra beauty to your home.  You should really try it.

Thanks for spending time with me today. Feel free to comment and please come back!

Criona♥