Choosing Flower Bulbs to Create a Beautiful Indoor Garden
Those of us who love
seeing flowers in bloom needn’t deprive ourselves of these sights during the
winter months. Bulbous plants (known as geophytes – “earth-plants” - to
botanists) are hardy perennials with special adaptations that allow them to
survive extreme cold, drought, and heat. During these periods, they go dormant;
and they draw upon food reserves stored in their stems, modified leaves, and
roots when their time comes to grow again. Utilizing the right methods – known
as forcing – we can coax them into bloom when we desire and thus enjoy beautiful
flowers indoors during those periods when the weather is too harsh to allow for
growth outside.
To do this, we simulate
the conditions that would exist in these plants’ natural habitats. Forcing bulbs
involves mimicking circumstances that coax them to flower when they normally
wouldn’t. This process can be reduced to a fairly exact science. We can decide
when we want our plants to bloom, and then count backwards to determine when we
should plant them.
Bulbs are like typical
shoots, but compressed into a smaller, denser area. Most of them are egg-shaped,
with stem plates at their wider ends. If you were to cut one open, you would see
concentric rings inside that are reminiscent of an onion’s. Some of the bulbs
that are most often successfully grown indoors include tulip cultivars such as
“Apricot Beauty”, “Attila”, “Page Polka”, and “Christmas Mantel”; narcissus
cultivars such as “Ice Follies”, “Mount Hood”, and “February Gold”; hyacinth
varieties like “Ostara”, “Delft Blue”, “Pink Pearl”, and “Hollyhock”; and
crocuses like “Joan of Arc”, “Remembrance”, and “Yellow Mammoth”.
Select bulbs that are
large and healthy in appearance; that are firm, clean and without bruises.
Tulips and hyacinths have an outer covering, of a consistency similar to paper,
that should be intact. For planting, a container 6 inches deep and 6-8 inches
across, with holes in the bottom for drainage, works well. For a planting base,
mix in soil, compost and sand in equal proportions. This will allow for good
drainage and still hold adequate moisture for root growth. Roots form at the
lower part of a bud’s stem and grow downwards, so be sure to plant each bulb
with this broader end facing down. Cover with soil until the tips are just
peaking out, and then water thoroughly.
Begin by creating a
facsimile of the natural winter environment. The idea is to sustain cold (from
35-48 degrees Fahrenheit) long enough to induce the bulbs to send out their
roots. This initial process usually requires 13-15 weeks. Label your containers
with the specific cultivars, their planting dates, and the times you expect them
to emerge. An outdoor patio, basement, or unheated garage can provide a suitable
environment during the winter months. Refrigerators and coolers also work, and
allow us to control the temperature, but the presence of other organics
(particularly apples) can affect the growth process of the bulbs.
After several weeks, you
can look through the holes in the bottom of the pots and see if you notice any
roots. This is a sign that the bulbs are becoming well established. Once they
start developing shoots, they tend to prefer even lower temperatures: 38-42
degree Fahrenheit. Wait until the leaves are 1-2 inches tall before bringing
your plants indoors.
There the real process
of forcing begins, as you use your home’s warmth (ideally, 55-60 degrees F.) and
sunlight (8 hours or more, daily) to entice your flowers to grow out of season.
The temperature should slip no more than 5-10 degrees below this guideline at
night. Before long, leaves green up and flowers start to grow. Within 2-3 weeks,
the bulbs that you’ve selected will be in full bloom – creating a beautiful
contrast to the gray winter outside.
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