Daffodils for Out-of-Season Bloom

The easiest way, of course, is to buy some bulbs of paperwhite types. Most garden stores have white ones, but you can also get a yellow and orange cultivar called ‘Grand Soleil d’Or’. And there’s a yellow and white one, ‘Chinese Sacred Lily’, which is also sometimes available by mail order. All you need to grow them to blooming size is a shallow bowl and some washed pebbles. Be sure the pebbles are washed, especially if you’ve collected them. A friend once used pebbles she’d collected on an ocean beach, and the salt which clung to the pebbles caused a failure with the bulbs! Put the pebbles in the bowl, put the bulbs on top, and add water just to the base of the bulbs. Roots will quickly grow, and be followed shortly with leaves and bloom stalks. Be sure to keep the water level to the base of the bulbs. Once the foliage begins to grow, be sure to keep the bowl in lots of light. Often the foliage gets too long, and begins to flop over. You might consider getting a hurricane lamp chimney from a craft store to place over the bulbs when you first pot them. The clear glass will keep the foliage in place, and you’ll still be able to see the growth and flowers. Once the bulbs have finished blooming, discard them, unless you live in an area which gets no frost. Even then, if you plant them out, it will take several years for them to bloom again.

Forcing normal bulbs to bloom inside in winter takes a little more effort. The size of the pot depends on the number of bulbs you want to plant. I’d go for a deeper pot, rather than a shallow “bulb pan,” so that you can plant a double layer of bulbs for a fuller pot. And try to choose fat rounds, rather than double- or triple-nosed bulbs. All the rounds should have a bud, while the offsets of the double- or triple-nosed ones may not. And it doesn’t matter whether you use clay or plastic pots. Both have their devotees. Plastic is lighter, they don’t dry out as quickly, and they may be cheaper. Whichever type you choose, you can always put the pot in a decorative container when the bulbs are in flower.

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