Hyacinths potted up, and in bloom

By Kathy Jentz

You’re going to do WHAT to that poor, defenseless bulb?! Getting past its dreadful name, bulb forcing isn’t so bad. In truth, bulb forcing is relatively cheap, easy, and certainly rewarding. A preview of spring in the dead of winter is one of the greatest gifts a gardener can give themselves. Instead of “forcing” bulbs, I prefer to think of it as “tricking them into bloom.” And hey, why not play a little prank once in a while on our plant friends. We’ve certainly had a few played on us! (Who hasn’t planted a new purchase expecting one color bloom and gotten something completely different? I’m still trying to find a place to move the lavender azalea planted among my salmon ones. Some color combinations just don’t work…)

Getting back to tricking your bulbs… Who loves a good trick more than kids? This is one of the best ways to get a child involved in gardening and I highly recommend it for an at-home, rainy day activity.

Daffodils on their way to blooming in mid-winter.

Here are the basics and a few extra tips I’ve learned from past experiments:

Paperwhites

1. Bulb Selection. You don’t need to buy any specific variety or kinds. You can just set aside a few bulbs from those that you bought for outside plantings. After they are done livening up your winter, you can plant them outside after the last frost to return with your other bulbs annually.

One word note of caution:  indoor bulbs can sometimes give off potent smells. Some people love them, some don’t — paperwhites and hyacinth are especially notorious in the love/hate category. Experiment a bit, and you’ll soon learn which scents are to your tastes and which are just too overpowering for inside your home.

2. Timing. Keep in mind that bulbs bloom about 3-4 weeks after they’re removed from cold storage, which lasts about 12 weeks. So if you want blooms for a specific occasion, you need to pot up the bulbs about 16 weeks in advance of the event.

3. Bulb Planting. Regular bulbs should be planted in soil, but at a shallower depth than you would outside. The top of the bulb should be even with the soil line and there needs to be about 2″ of soil below the bulbs for root development. The container should have drainage holes. Because it will be inside your house and no one likes a leaky mess on their furniture, I recommended lining the bottom of the pot with scrap landscape fabric and placing the pot on a good-sized saucer filled with a layer of pebbles. Place the bulbs pointy side up and with the “flat” side towards the outside of the pot and as tight as you like. Crowding them actually makes a nicer visual effect than spacing them out. It also helps the foliage from growing out too much and flopping over. Water in well and weekly thereafter.

Cold storage in the vegetable bin

4. Cold Storage/Removal for Flowering. Place the potted-up bulbs in cold storage for about 12 weeks. Cold storage should be roughly 40-50 degrees and no light – perhaps your basement, garage, or the crisper drawer in your refrigerator. Different bulbs have different cold cycle times but most are between 12-16 weeks. (At the full 16 weeks, tulips need the most time.) Mark your calendars so that you don’t forgot about them.

When you first remove them from storage place them in indirect light and away from a heat source to prevent legginess. After 2 weeks, when they’ve sprouted and several inches high, move them to a sunny, warm window. Once a flowerhead/bud starts to develop, you can then move it to your desired location with indirect sunlight to prolong the bloom life. Keep moist during this entire time out of cold storage. Enjoy!

Kathy Jentz is Editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, the only gardening publication published specifically for the local metro area — zones 6-7 — Washington DC and its suburbs.  The magazine, written entirely by local area gardeners, is published four times per year with a cover price of $4.99. To subscribe to the magazine: Send a check/money order for $20.00 payable to “Washington Gardener” magazine to: Washington Gardener, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910 OR to pay via Paypal/credit card click on the “subscribe” link at www.WashingtonGardener.com.

Photo credits:  Hyacinths by  Elizabeth Licata, Daffodils and cold storage by Kathy Jentz, Paperwhites by Susan Harris.

This Saturday, October 15 from 9 to 4:30 in Potomac, everyone’s favorite orchid expert will be answering your questions, diagnosing your orchid problems, and repotting every orchid in sight (okay, just the ones that need it but she’s ready).

Carol has become so popular with local orchid growers, we’re noticing some regular attendees, and new converts to the joys of orchid-growing.  So we’ll be offering Carol’s help this Saturday and again on November 12 and December 10.  She’s that popular.

More about  Carol

A quick look at her resume reveals knowledge of waaaay more than orchids.   Looks like we could pick her brains on just about anything plant-related:

Carol Allen has been involved in gardening and horticulture since childhood.  She has worked in almost all aspects of the horticultural industry and confesses to being a confirmed ‘plant-a-holic’. Carol enjoys teaching people about plants and their care and occasionally teaches at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Fascinated by the interplay of pest and prey, Carol recently returned to college and earned a degree in horticulture.  She is currently enrolled as a graduate student in plant science at the University of Maryland where her research is in transfer of virus disease in orchids.

Carol speaks to various plant groups and societies on a wide range of horticultural topics.  She can be heard at Brookside Gardens teaching organic gardening, speaking on building a butterfly garden at a local garden club, teaching master gardeners about houseplant care, or talking about pests and diseases at a regional orchid society.  She is an integrated pest management specialist and a licensed pesticide applicator in the states of Maryland and Virginia.  Readers are informed and entertained by her column in the Washington Gardener magazine on pest issues.  Carol confesses to growing a wide range of plants in and around her home that she shares with cats, anoles, tropical frogs, tropical fish, and pet snakes.

by Larry Hurley

Back around 1980, my wife and I took a driving trip from Dallas through the South, with a stop in New Orleans. While walking near our guesthouse, we were captivated by a fragrance in the air—very light, very floral, very indescribable. We eventually tracked the scent to a large Sweet Olive tree (Osmanthus fragrans) several blocks away.  Since then, I have always grown a sweet olive.

I treat sweet olive like a houseplant. They are not reliably hardy throughout our area, although I see that the National Arboretum in DC says that they have them planted outdoors in Asian Valley so you might make a trip to the Arb and sniff about.  They are in bloom from late summer to late fall, according to the Arboretum.  Might be that they are okay in the big warm city but not hardy out in say Olney or Columbia.

Osmanthus is an evergreen shrub, with deep green holly-like leaves. The flowers are white, small and borne in clusters; not showy.  The scent is very ephemeral and I find it is strongest in the morning and when the air is a bit humid. That said, it seems to be there and gone again; a whiff, and it disappears.

I keep the plant outdoors in the summer, and bring it in around the middle of October. Indoors, it’s in a cool room, in front of a large, bright window (but it does pretty well there even without direct sunlight). It’s in flower now, and will continue to put forth blooms throughout the winter.  It’s not a gorgeous plant indoors, it does drop some leaves when it comes in and it looks a little twiggy, so it’s best with some other plants grouped around the base.

The plant is Asian in origin, and most of our customers enquiring about it are of Asian descent.  We carry it off and on throughout the year, in our houseplant department.  We just received a shipment of Sweet Olives last week, so come in and check them out.

Photo credit.

by Susan Harris
The announcement for this workshop doesn’t begin to tell you how much fun it is and I know that because I attended one last weekend and have photos to show for it.   There’s still room in the next one coming up this Sunday – just call the Beltsville store to let them know you’re coming!

WORKSHOP DETAILS
It’s called “Create a Houseplant Container Garden” and here’s the description:  Learn how to combine different plants with similar tastes to create a container garden for inside your home and build it to take with you at the end of the class.  The $35 fee covers everything – including the pot, the liner, the tray, the growing medium and as many plants as will fit in your chosen pot.  At our Beltsville location this Sunday January 23 from 1 to 2 p.m.

CHOOSING THE PLANTS
Here’s workshop leader Randy Best recommending plants for everyone’s houseplant containers, which was a good thing because participants said that otherwise they’d be overwhelmed by the choices.   Though they did admit to loving the whole “Grab any plants you want in the whole store!” factor here.  Like winning one of those timed shopping sprees.

But everyone seemed pleased with their choices after Randy and the participants all pitched in to help.  The goal was to choose at least one thriller (for height), a filler for the middle level across the soil, and a spiller to trail down.   Yes, it’s the same three-part system that’s recommended for outdoor container plantings.

Shown above are, from the left, Joanne Mood, Melanie Gugliuzza, and Lori Van Zanten with Randy.

THE POTTING MEDIUM
Randy likes Espoma’s Organic Potting Mix because A, it’s organic and B, it includes Myco-Tone, a blend of 11 strains of mycorrhizae that been shown to improve plant performance in many ways.   Asked if the soil would need to be replaced in order to provide nutrients, Randy answered that actually, the nutrients would be coming from you, the gardener (see fertilizing below), and that the potting medium would only need to be replaced if the peat completely decomposed and the soil then became hard to the touch.

Above you see the roots of a “prayer plant,” which needed to be loosened up a bit before being planted.  Otherwise, the plant may think it’s still in its tiny first pot and never grow any new roots – the classic result of plants being “pot-bound”.

RECOMMENDED FERTILIZER
In the greenhouse here at Behnkes they include a small amount of liquid fertilizer made of fish with each watering.  (It may be made of fish but he swears it has a “pleasant mint smell”.  How’s they do that?)   He recommends a similar feeding regime at home or, at a minimum, adding fertilizer to the watering can every other week (at one-half the recommended strength).

Chemical fertilizer like Miracle-Gro and Osmocote would actually kill off the beneficial critters in that nice Espoma product.

THE FIRST TIME YOU WATER IT
Use tepid water and water at a very slow rate.  This settles the soil, removing all air pockets (which would cause roots to dry up and die).

THE RESULTS
Above left you see the design by Joanne Mood, who’ll be placing the whole pot inside another larger and more decorative pot.  Then she’ll be taking the whole creation to a bridal shower as her gift, which everyone predicted will be the hit of the party.  The container on the right was designed by Pat Belcher, who says she’ll be keeping hers, thank you very much.

Above, designs by Lori Van Zanten on the left and Melanie Gugliuzza on the right.

Lori told us she was “thrilled” by the workshop and that it was a wonderful way to get together with a high school friend – who happened to be attending the workshop with some neighbors and invited her to join them.  That got me to thinking – what other afternoon event in the dead of winter could friends do together just for fun?  Go shopping together in a mall, I guess, but for my taste, you can’t beat creating beauty with plants.

Ever wonder what the Horticulturists at Behnke’s are reading? We asked Miri Talabac (Behnkes woody plant manager and buyer) what were a few of her favorite books and she sent me over a dozen titles. So, over the next few weeks we will be posting them here with Miri’s notes on why this was one of her favorites.

Understanding Orchids – William Cullina

Exactly as the title says, this book helps everyone understand orchid growth and how to provide them with the best environment in which to thrive.

Starting with the basics of explaining orchid structure and growth, chapters on plant care include lighting, watering, humidity and ventilation, fertilization, re-potting, and pest and disease troubleshooting.

The remainder of the book spotlights dozens of common orchid genera and details their culture. I love Cullina’s writing style and presentation of the finer details of orchid care in an un-daunting manner.

It’s fascinating to look through the table of hybrid genera and see just how many inter-generic hybrids there are. If you weren’t already addicted to orchids before reading this book, you may be afterwards!

Have you got a favorite gardening book you want to share with the readers of Behnkes Garden Blog? Drop a comment here or feel free to Contact Us and tell us what gardening books you have been reading and why its one of your favorites.