Bulbs in the Basement, Geraniums on the Windowsill
The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs
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
sheetingto 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
while maintaining an artistic presentation of the plants in your
garden.
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.
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