Once the peak of the flowering season has passed, there is still a fun way to enjoy your favorite flowers inside.
The flowering season of many plants may be extended, especially flowering bulbs.
Bright Spring and Summer Blossoms in Deep, Dark Winter
Bringing in fresh blossoms throughout the colder months of the year requires more than just visiting a florist or learning how to use dry flowers in your home décor.
Assuming the right conditions, you may mislead bulbs into believing and acting as though it were flowering time.
It is termed “pushing bulbs to bloom” for a reason. They need to feel like the season has started.
Replicate The Blooming Season
The best strategy to ensure success is to create an environment as close to their natural one as possible.
By simulating the ideal temperature, humidity, and light levels for flowering, we can coax the bulbs into producing beautiful blooms in the dead of winter.
Think Like a Bulb
Certain light bulbs are more amenable to being convinced than others. Some plants only blossom when given more favorable conditions, such as higher temperatures and more moisture. Other types of bulbs are more of a pain to take out of the wall. They might benefit from being refrigerated for a while before being heated.
Choosing Bulbs That Require a Chilling Period – Chill Out
Bulbs that will blossom in the spring when planted in the autumn need a time of low weather to mimic winter.
Bulbs such as crocuses, tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils need a cooling period since they generally spend the winter underground.
Chilling may occur if the weather is chilly but above freezing. It might be that a cold basement or garage is just what you need. Light bulbs may be cooled in the refrigerator.
Choosing Bulbs That Don’t Require a Chilling Period – No Time to Chill?
It is not necessary to freeze the soil before planting certain summer-blooming bulbs in the spring.
Amaryllis, a widely grown bulb with beautiful cut blooms, is a great illustration. Huge tropical flowers are planted after Halloween and enjoy a brief bloom in the new year.
Other bulbs besides lilies that don’t need a freezing period include gladioli, dahlias, canna lilies, calla lilies, and oriental lilies.
What You Need to Get Started
Your Favorite Bulbs
Blooming bulbs that are both attractive and robust in appearance. Perhaps some of the spring-flowering bulbs you planted in the autumn are still going strong.
On the other side, you can be preparing for a winter event where beautiful live flowering bulbs will provide a touch of springtime splendor. Select light bulbs wisely depending on your available time.
Growing Medium
This bulbous plant’s incredible nutritional system allows it to maintain itself. This is so because they survived off their leaves the previous year. As a soilless growth media, you may try sand, a soil-sand-perlite combination, or even gravel.
The hyacinth, narcissus, and amaryllis are three flowering plants that thrive while submerged in water. Take care that the bulbs’ bases are not submerged. They will not get wet or decay in this method.
Containers
All storage units must have at least a five-inch depth.
Blooming bulbs may add weight to the top of weaker containers. A few stones or other heavy objects should be placed at the bottom of containers made of more flimsy materials.
All plants, no matter what they’re in, need containers with good drainage. Large stones, gravel, gritty sand, or glass beads are all good examples of drainage material that may be used to fill the bottom few inches if drainage is an issue. Putting glass beads and stones in mason jars or other types of transparent glass containers may make them seem quite lovely.
Time
For certain bulb species, full bloom may take as long as a month. Plant bulbs that have been refrigerated for two to four months will not sprout until they are brought back to room temperature.
For your convenience, we’ve included a table detailing how long these hardy bulbs need to be refrigerated before they can be planted.
It may take each bulb up to two months from the time it first sprouts until it is fully bloomed.
The Trick
“lightbulb” thinking It makes a burrow, spreads its roots, and stays there for a time. The onset of springtime and the availability of water trigger the process of awakening. This is seen by the top of the bulb where a shoot or sprout emerges.
For this reason, and also because it looks neat, you should bury the bulbs up to their necks in the soil.
When forcing bulbs to bloom when it’s not their time of year to do so, you may put them considerably closer together. It’s okay to put them a little deeper than usual in the ground when setting them outdoors.
Wet the soil or potting mix down completely.
Bulbs that do not need a chilling period may be placed in a warm sunny location at temperatures above 60° F.
Chill-Chilled light bulbs should be stored in a cool, dark location, such a basement or unheated garage, for the time specified by the manufacturer.
How To Force Bulbs: Step-By-Step
4 Bulbs for Forcing into Out-Of-Season Bloom
1. Crocus (Spring-Blooming Types)
There is no better way to brighten up the dull, dark days of winter than with the brilliant, brilliant, and cheerful flora of crocus.
Depending on the kind, crocus bulbs might take anywhere from two weeks to five weeks to blossom. Since they are compact and manageable in size, these small plants are perfect for brightening up a dreary winter day.
From start to finish, the chilling process takes around 8-10 weeks.
2. Hyacinth
Envision the comforting aroma of early-blooming hyacinth flooding the house after a long winter. Beautiful red, white, and pink variations are what come to mind when I think of Valentine’s Day, which falls in the middle of February.
The peacefully falling snow outside will be a stunning contrast to the stunning beauty of the flowers on the porch.
The total time required for cooling is around 12–14 weeks.
3. Narcissus
Narcissus, daffodils, and jonquils are the best winter flowers for lifting your spirits.
As a result of their sunny disposition, they thrive well when grown inside, where they may bloom and lighten the dark days of winter. Anything that can be grown outdoors may be brought inside, from sturdy trumpet daffodils to narcissus with fragrant double flowers.
Inducing bulbs to bloom indoors is a great opportunity to explore the wide variety of available flowering bulbs.
It takes around 14–16 weeks for the food to cool.
4. Tulips
In the short spring season, a tulip enthusiast can’t possibly see them all. How about a giant leap to kick off your tulip parade?
By artificially inducing an early flowering in tulips, you may be able to enjoy their beauty even if the temperature outside is somewhat low.
Tulips come in all shapes and sizes, from little to monumental, and they’re all stunning. Because the selected kinds may eventually grow tall, it is important to utilize containers that can support their weight.
The length of the cooling phase varies between 14 and 16 weeks.
3 Bulbs for Forcing When There’s No Time to Chill
1. Lilies
No other flower, other than lilies, can compete with their beauty and smell throughout the cold winter months. Easter lilies have become synonymous with celebrations of the arrival of spring all around the globe.
It is possible to force the blooming of many species of lily, providing us with a welcome respite from the long, dark days of winter.
2. Amaryllis
This reliable bulb may be coaxed into flowering over the colder months. Due of their popularity, Amaryllis bulbs are a great place to start when learning how to force bulbs inside.
When compared to anything else, the flowers are on another planet. Another selling factor is that amaryllis are often available for purchase at just the right moment, with detailed care instructions for each vibrant variety.
3. Gladiolus
The bright gladioli flowers represent everything that is great about summer. Bringing these gorgeous blooms back to life in the dead of winter is the ideal antidote to a dreary snow day.
The beautiful flowers might help revive your soul. Arcing flower stems need a robust container to prevent them from falling over.
Conclusion
If you’re anything like me, you hate the cold winter months since you seldom see any actual flowers.
The next time you want to see flower bulbs blossom, why not attempt this indoor gardening technique to coax them into doing so?
Some joy might be conveyed by interrupting the dreary winter days spent waiting for spring’s flowers.