WANT TO FILL YOUR HOME WITH COLOR AND FRAGRANCE THIS WINTER? Then do what I do, and pot plenty of Dutch bulbs in early October. From tiny blue anemones and fragile white snowdrops to big, fabulously-perfumed hyacinths (that’s pink ‘Fondant’ pictured above), these beauties from Holland provide in the depths of winter all the essence… Read more »
DO YOU REMEMBER the hyacinths I double-potted back in December? As you can see in the photo above, the upper level have bloomed. The lower bulbs, because they have farther to travel, won’t bloom for another 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, the five presently-open stalks are emitting the most glorious scent in the world, one I can’t… Read more »
IF YOU CAN’T BEAR ANOTHER DAY OF WINTER — and who can blame you — then I suggest you run out and clip an armful of dormant crabapple branches. I did just that three weeks ago. As you can see from the photos I took this morning, the twigs have flowered without a hitch. It’s… Read more »
WHEN the bright stars of Crocus ‘Golden Yellow’ opened in my window garden this week, the frozen tundra outside seemed an illusion. The sunny blossoms look picture-perfect on the broad sill in my upstairs bath, nestled among a collection of ferns, vines, and pink and white cyclamens. Need a crocus forcing-tutorial? This one works for… Read more »
A VASE OF GLOWING, GOLDEN FORSYTHIA is just the thing to alleviate winter dullness in the house. You can cut the branches in late December or early January, and they will bloom for you just 2 or 3 weeks later. And other common garden shrubs can be forced as easily. Of course the branches will… Read more »
OKAY, it was probably crazy of me to accept such generosity, but when Calendar’s Nursery in Chatham, NY, offered me their unsold hyacinths yesterday, I couldn’t refuse. (Why look a gift-bulb in the mouth?) In order to save on space, I decided to double-pot the bulbs. Double-potting, which I learned from Thalassa Cruso (my childhood… Read more »
I CAN STILL RECALL the excitement here last winter when true-blue grape hyacinths (Muscari) bloomed in my parlor window (above; click to enlarge). These filled the entire room with such a marvelous springtime perfume that I thought the snow outside was a mirage. Muscari is extremely easy to force into early bloom: In October (or… Read more »
