I was not able to start my hyacinths as usual this year but finally settled in my new place and opened my hyacinth bulbs and put 20 Delft Blue hyacinth bulbs in hyacinth vases. It's extremely late to do this but thought I'd give it a try. The remaining 80 bulbs I was not able to force, I planted out, also quite late for bulb planting but it hasn't been as cold as it might be so maybe they will establish ..read more

It's July and time to start thinking about forcing hyacinths for Christmas. I know it's early but it takes some planning. one of my new vases I'm using this year for the first time I ordered my bulbs yesterday. Looking back at my results from last year, I used 13 varieties. I'm keeping it simpler this year but buying more of a variety to get a proper range of results. I ordered: Delft Blue, "the" hyacinth for forcing, generally reliable and good results Blue Star, last year I had good results so buying more of these Miss Saigon, I usually use these and get good results City of Bradford, hasn ..read more

Aqua hyacinths in the bulb bowl on the left and Miss Saigon on the right Jan Bos on the left, Blue Eyes on the right, like all the other Blue Eyes, the inner florets are not opening Miss Saigon hyacinths in bud and bloom ..read more

Good morning on the mantel in my living room, there's a mirror behind, the smell is amazing when I come in ..read more

all flowers in bloom Christmas Day 2022 closer view of the hyacinths, although I have lots of fat buds on my hyacinths, these are the only ones in bloom I need to remove the bulblets from these hyacinth bulbs using a craft knife. I grabbed a pot of compost from the garden to plant them in. If you can get some of the basal plate of the bulb attached to the bulblet, the bulblet will have a better chance of developing. If there are roots there's basal plate; the ones without roots, I'm not sure. I planted the bulblets in a pot of compost (from the garden - lots of seedlings in it ..read more

On December 23rd, reviewing the hyacinths, I can see I'm only going to have 1 in bloom for Christmas. I had high hopes with dozens out of the dark. I do have lots and lots of fat buds but not many ready to open. Delft Blue hyacinths Blue Eyes hyacinths the two at the front are Blue Eyes Aiolos hyacinths Blue Star hyacinths Aqua hyacinths Sky Planet close-up of the hyacinth right above Miss Saigon hyacinths Caribbean Dream hyacinths Jan Bos hyacinths, the only one I'll have in bloom on Christmas Day Gypsy Queen hyacinth Sky Jacket hyacinths Pink Surprise hyacinths ..read more

The White Amadeus amaryllis are spectacular. The buds opened the last couple days. The Minerva amaryllis flowers are tiny by comparison but still beautiful flowers. Scarecrow on the windowsill, Rocky on the table in the foreground. The hyacinths included to show the difference in sizes. Wedgwood hedgehog with crocus bulbs. I just brought it out of the cellar today so the crocus shoots are looking very anemic but they will green up in a few days. crocus vases, need topping up with water but roots are growing well, cranberry vase back right is by glassroots and matches a hyacinth vase by gl ..read more

I've heard that forced hyacinths need to come out of the dark and cold by December 1st if they are to bloom by Christmas - but some bulbs grow faster than others - certainly a better chance of Christmas blooms the sooner they come out into the light and warmth. these have been out for a couple days and have started to green up, initially the stems are yellow after being in the dark a closer view of some of those fat buds this one has two stems ..read more

A few more vases to use, a few are new ebay purchases and the small ones on the right I thought I would buy those small hyacinth bulbs from Sainsbury's but they don't have them so just using the bulbs I have. 1 pack of Aqua hyacinth bulbs left so using them for a bulb bowl. Socky keeping me company. At least one cat usually comes to the table when I'm doing bulbs. bulb bowl with Aqua hyacinth bulbs, I have too many bulb bowls and nowhere to put them so just using 1 this year, the bowl and the vases are filled with water to just below the bulbs and put into the dark for a few weeks Sternberg ..read more

My bulbs were delivered this week, all 114 of them (!). Not much room on the table for the cats but they find a way. I put a bulb in each vase which I had filled with water to just under the bulb (the bulb mustn't sit in water). I put all the vases in my cellar in the dark. I'll start checking them in a few weeks. I thought the hyacinth bulbs might not be very good this year after a summer of drought and heatwave but they look great. Scarecrow had to check them out. Rocky, only Scarecrow and Rocky came came to supervise my bulb forcing this year. Delft Blue, "the" haycinth bulb for forcin ..read more