Blooming Times: Bring the Sunshine In

Short winter days are on the way, but hyacinth and narcissi bulbs can be grown in pots to enjoy indoors. Get planting quickly and some could even be in flower by Christmas, says Flo Whitaker...

When buying hyacinth bulbs, you’ll find two distinct types; ‘standard/non-prepared’ and ‘prepared’. Standard hyacinths are primarily used to give an outdoor display in March/April. You can also fill pots of them to bring inside as they commence flowering, but non-prepared types cannot easily be hurried for early blooms.

For a Christmas or New Year indoor display, select prepared bulbs. They cost considerably more as they’ve been subjected to refrigeration treatment during summer, which mimics a false winter. Come September, they’re removed from the chillers, mistake autumnal warmth for springtime, quickly start into growth and produce flowers within 10-12 weeks.

Multi-headed narcissi are also contenders for indoor pots. Some varieties are naturally early bloomers, particularly super-speedy ‘Paperwhites’, that flower within 6-8 weeks of planting.

Once potted, keep your bulbs in a dark, frost-free shed/garage-type location (ideally below 10⁰C) until shoots emerge. The shoots will be yellow-ish/white, but that’s okay! Next, move them into a warmer, well-lit spot, (a frost-free porch or unheated spare bedroom, perhaps?) for about a fortnight, until the shoots have greened-up and flower buds start to appear. To prolong flowering, keep them away from direct heat sources and return them outside as blooms fade.

Free-draining soil is essential for potted bulbs. I use a ratio of 50% potting compost, 25% leaf mould and 25% horticultural grit. Bulb roots easily succumb to rot – gritty compost prevents waterlogging. Don’t add additional fertiliser. Bulbs contain all the nutrients they require – excessively rich compost can distort growth. Special ‘bulb fibre’ compost is also available. It’s pricier than standard potting soil, but is a specifically balanced, low-energy material designed to give optimum results. It contains other useful elements such as charcoal granules that help disperse excess moisture.

Carefully select your planting containers; for both aesthetic and practical purposes. Tall narcissi require a weighty container, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a pot – you can grow bulbs in anything. Charity shops are good hunting grounds for quirky containers. Mismatched teapots, bowls and suchlike can be planted up to give a vintage look. Old ceramics are seldom watertight, so employ protective mats and saucers. Use bulb fibre for awkward-shaped vessels and containers without drainage holes. As a general guide, permanently planted bulbs should be buried three times deeper than their height, (for instance: a 5cm high bulb = 15cms planting depth), but those destined for brief displays can be shallow-planted, or even have their bulb tips protruding above the compost. Support tall/heavy varieties with twiggy branches to give a pleasing naturalistic appearance.

After flowering, bulbs can be relocated into a border. Forced bulbs seriously deplete their energy reserves and not all survive the indoor-to-outdoor transition. However, given time, many will resume their natural outdoor growth cycles.