In Bloom by Clare Nolan

Author:Clare Nolan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CompanionHouse Books
Published: 2019-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Snowdrop ‘Flore Pleno’

Summer snowflakes with Garrya elliptica catkins and foraged foliage.

Forcing bulbs

With the cutting garden deep in slumber and so little going on outside in the garden in terms of flowers, my floral displays in winter are built around bulbs that can be forced, that is, grown outside of their normal flowering season.

MY FAVORITES

AMARYLLIS

I don’t grow amaryllis to cut, as the bulbs are more expensive than buying the stems as a cut flower. Instead, I grow them to use as potted displays. They are often available cheap at markets already potted up in winter – the downside is the varieties are limited. If you are buying the bulbs dry, you’ll get much more choice. The bulbs can be kept after flowering, given a rest period and then brought back into flower the following year.

‘Magic Green’ – ivory-white with a green center with burgundy painterly markings. Height 18 in (45cm).

‘Apple Blossom’ – pure white with pretty pink veining. Height 24 in (60cm).

NARCISSI

I pot up big bowls of these in succession to see me through winter. The classic variety for forcing is Narcissus Paperwhite ‘Ziva’ (height 16 in [40cm]) or N. ‘Tête-à-tête’ (height 6 in [15cm]), but pretty much any of the N. Tazetta varieties will work. Paperwhites aren’t hardy – I take them out of their pots, dry and store them, and then repot them the following year in late summer or early autumn. The hardy varieties can be planted out in the garden (at four times their height).

HYACINTHS

Planting these in pots is my favorite way to enjoy hyacinths, as I feel they get lost in the garden. You get to appreciate them up close when they’re in a pot on a table. Prechilled bulbs are available in a wide range of colors. My favorites for inside are Hyacinthus orientalis ‘Woodstock’, which is deep burgundy-maroon, and the classic mix of blue and white such as H.o. ‘Delft Blue’ and H.o. ‘White Pearl’. Height 10 in (25cm).

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