When the you are starting to miss the sweet scent of summer, all is not lost. You can have a mini garden on your inside windowsill by fooling Mother Nature. We can have vibrant, fragrant colours in our homes within only a matter of 8 to 12 weeks by forcing bulbs into flowering indoors.
Therefore, bulbs planted in September can be forced to produce flowers in time for the Christmas festivities. Good bulbs for forcing include prepared hyacinths, large flowered crocus and some tulips and daffodils.
The most popular Narcissus for growing indoors is the highly fragrant Paperwhite. Choose some healthy prepared hyacinth bulbs for forcing, as ordinary hyacinth bulbs will not produce the same results. It is important to always wear gloves when handling hyacinth bulbs as they can cause skin irritation.
When a planted bulb is removed from a light source it enables root development to occur. Once it is re-introduced to light, the leaves and flower will then start travelling upwards towards the light and away from the bulb. When we are growing our bulbs this way we are essentially shortening this darkness period – which the bulb treats as winter and therefore tricking the bulb to believe spring has arrived and it’s now time to bloom.
Follow our easy four step guide and you will be enjoying a home filled with fresh flowers;
