I posted a diary on January 18th titled "wooden crates of hyacinths - the joy of forcing". In that diary, I had shown approximately fifty hyacinth bulbs that I had just removed from a six-week period of complete darkness. I was asked at that time to show the hyacinths when they bloomed and I have also been contacted since then to show them.
Here are the bulbs the last time they were shown in the public eye. They had good root systems going and about an inch of top growth
Currently several bulbs are now past their prime and I have already removed their blooms, yet some are just beginning to open. I believe the majority are at peak right now. All photographs were taken this afternoon. So without further adieu, I present the same hyacinths and other type of bulbs in the same order that I had presented them last time.
for the first time, I've noticed the bulbs in the tall slender vases below bloomed first and the ones shown above in the shorter squatty vases are just beginning to bloom the wooden crates of hyacinths have remained in the chairs under the dining room windows
same ones still surround the succulent wreath can you smell them now? you are not scratching your smell card hard enough ..... this is the bulb that had been trapped inside the Victorian terrarium and these were the two that jumped up on the fireplace mantel but crawled down to a sunnier location on it these two had climbed inside a bookcase. I need to cut the one bloom off before it tilts the vase over. The other vase needs to be moved as the bloom is pushing against the bottom of the shelf above it. If not removed, it will crack the vase or push it over. Can you tell I have experience in losing vases? These were the hyacinths gathering in the front entrance hall. If you recall there was an amaryllis with them that had two shoots with opened blooms. Those have been cut off and were immediately replaced by this third shoot that is so tall, it's trying to climb up the stairs the ones that made it to a coffee table top and the others that seeked the protection of the deer (in the back is an older amaryllis bulb starting a bloom) In the other diary, I had shown this farmer with a basket full of bulbs that had not been forced yet. Today I placed the final four bulbs in the beehive oven for their six-weeks of darkness. What is nice about forcing them so late is that I can use them later on a tabletop in a seasonal room or even outside on a tabletop These two were shown in the comment section last time as I had forgotten about them while putting together the diary. The one on the left appears to be the only hyacinth that is not doing too well. If it doesn't start showing signs of more roots or a bloom soon, I'll place it in dirt and that should do the trick. I also showed amaryllis bulbs that are several years old and I still keep forcing each winter. I had only placed them in water a week before the diary and showed one was already starting a bloom. This is that bloom and it's one of my favorite because of the color and the petal shapes. Here she is in her vase; one of the other bulbs is now starting to send up a bloom The beautiful green amaryllis blooms shown last time are now gone. The bulb is sitting over in a corner right now putting out leaves. I wouldn't be surprised if another bloom starts up again. and finally this was the pot of bulbs I had brought inside from the barn and thought they would be minature tulips but as you can see they are crocus. The other diary contained information and links of various ways to force bulbs.
I hope you enjoyed the update. I also hope this helped those with frigid temperatures in your area and lets you know that spring is right around the corner.