You can have an attractive arrangement of flowers in your home throughout winter and spring if you plant bulbs in ornamental pots that have been filled with fibre.
The bulbs should be planted into the pots as soon as they are available, usually in August through to early September, in order for them to be successful. The purpose-made fibre should be made damp before it is placed into the bowl. Prior to this, a few pieces of charcoal should be placed into the bowl. The tips of the bulbs should be just visible when they are set into position in the fibre.
Place the bulbs in a cool position to ensure that the roots develop freely. The ideal position is outdoors beneath a 9 inch mound of peat, or covered with sacking and a piece of board to prevent rain getting in.
Should it not be possible to place the bulbs outdoors, they should be placed in a deep box or bath in the coolest possible place and covered as per the outdoors method. Around 4 to 8 weeks later, root development should be considerable and shoots of about 2 inches should be evident. If this is so, the covering must be removed and the bulbs left until the shoots have turned green. "Forcing" can then commence, placing them in a warm room. The shoots will very quickly come into bloom provided the fibre is kept moist.
To ensure that the display is over an extended period of time, choose varieties carefully.
Hyacinths - The "Roman White" variety of hyacinth is the very first of this group to flower. It has blooms that look like white bluebells. Next after this variety are the prepared hyacinths - they have been specially treated to induce flowering at Christmas time.
The regular large-flowered, untreated hyacinths do not normally flower until the spring.
Narcissus
It is easy to obtain blooms from the Narcissus known as "Paper-white" in December and a succession of blooms can be maintained by numerous other kinds usually found in bulb catalogues.
Other varieties of this group force easily and are followed by other single early tulips.
Holiday Treatment of Room Plants
It can be a problem caring for room plants when you are away on holidays unless you can arrange for someone to water them. It is possible to prevent damage to the plants if you are away for a week or so, provided you take the proper precautions.
The best method is to fill a large bath or similar receptacle with damp moss, then place the potted plants deeply into this, with the moss covering the soil by about 1 to 2 inches. A product known as "granulated peat" or damp sacking can be used instead of the moss. The last step in this procedure is to cover the moistening material with polythene tissue or plastic sheeting to prevent the evaporation of moisture. Ensure that the plants have been well watered before they are plunged.
Another alternative front yard landscaping method is to place the plants in a group with a pail of water nearby, placing a piece of wick between the water source and each plant. This will ensure a constant water supply to the soil around the plant without distorting your garden landscaping plans.
If you have access to a garden, the pots can be placed into the soil up to their rims, ensuring that a shady spot is chosen.
In each of these methods, you must ensure that the soil in the pot is well soaked with water before plunging is done or the plants are connected with the siphon-wicks.
