How to enjoy fresh flowers every day 

1. What is Flower Bulb Forcing?
2. Where and when to buy your Flower Bulbs?
3. The Cooling period
4. Prepare your soil mix and containers
5. Plant your Bulbs and wait!
6. Enjoy!!

Flickr Pictures 

Scenery

Scenery

Red Tulips

Overview

Flowers Wide Angle

1. What is Flower Bulb Forcing? 

Immitate Mr. Snowman

"Forcing" is the term used to describe the process that stimulates bulbs to bloom out of season. Among the most commonly forced bulb flowers are amaryllis, paper-white narcissus, muscari and hyacinths. Certainly they are the easiest. However, other bulbs that can be forced include colchicum and miniature iris.

In Holland, I always planted my bulbs in the Autumn, most of the time at the end of October. The trick was to wait until the greeners went out to plant bulbs on public lawns. Bulbs need the winter cold to stimulate the blooming process.

2. Where and when to buy your Flower Bulbs? 

- Let the hunt begin!

After I settled in Canada, I asked my mother in The Netherlands to go to a Greenery to buy me Flower Bulbs. This was the cheapest way, even when taking the shipping costs into consideration. Too bad the Canadian Customs Officials confiscated this package. They told me I did not have an import license and that only packages from licenses exporters are being let through. Now I knew I had to buy flower bulbs from within Canada.

I looked on the web and found only a few online Dealers. The only problem was the money: those flower bulbs were much more expensive than I was used to.

Then one day, I was in Wal-Mart and saw Flower Bulbs at a acceptable price: 8 bulbs for $7.95. Still way more expensive, but okay... I bought one package and did some research on the origin. It shocked me: the bulbs game from exactly the same supplier as the ones I ordered from Holland. And even more important: exactly the same quality.

Since it gets pretty cold here in the end of October, the flower bulb seasons ends in the 1st week of November. My wife and I went back to Wal-Mart (3 hour drive) and bought almost all the packages of Flower Bulbs at a discount (only $2.00 per package).

So where and when to buy your Bulbs?
- Close to the end of the planting season at your local Wal-Mart or other Supermarket. If you want "special" (read: expensive)flowers, you still need to find a specialized store.

Your favourite Flower 

Add to this list

Grab this list

Get the RSS feed: Keep an eye on this Plexo list. See who wins. And who's left in the dirt.

Get the widget: Add this Plexo list as a widget on your blog, site, forum, whatever. Be an influential. Show off your great find.

Get this on my lens: Attack of the clones! Grab this Plexo module for your own lens. Get YOUR readers to vote for their favorites.

• Add to Bloglines
• Add to My Yahoo
• Add to Google
• Add to Technorati
• Add to NewsGator
• Add to My MSN
• Grab the XML

Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Pick your widget size:

Small size: Best for blog sidebars, and areas 250 pixels or less
Standard size: Best for blog posts, and areas greater than 250 pixels wide

How many list items to show? 5 10 15 All

Make the Widget!

Voila: Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

Add list item    Submit

Cancel

3. The cooling period 

- clean that Fridge!

Bare bulbs can be stored for several weeks in your refrigerator prior to potting without damage if they are packed properly.

The best way to store them is in a mesh bag or paper bag with holes that permit ventilation. You don't have to worry about water, as the humidity inside a refrigerator is usually high enough. Check them periodically to make sure they are not molding or drying out.

The cooling period depends on the flower type. I generally leave the bulbs in the fridge for 4 to 6 weeks, but some people prefer even longer periods. Use one of the veggie drawers to store your bulbs. Put nothing else in the drawer, since veggies and fruit can produce fumes which damage the bulbs.

4. Prepare your soil mix and containers 

- Do not use used cups, since there might be alcohol residu in them!

Buy a premium quality indoor potting soil. The cheap stuff will not do, since it dries out very quickly. You will also need some clean sand or fine clean gravel. You can also use the more expensive soil drainagers.

To make your soil, mix 2/3 soil with 1/3 sand or gravel. Mix very well and moisture a bit.

For containers, I always use cheap white beer cups. These are strong and it is very easy to make two drainage holes in the bottom.

Fill each beer cup with 1/3 gravel or sand, then add your soil mix. There must be enough room left in the cup to place a bulb full length.

Use a spray to moisture the soil in your containers.

If you decide to plant your flowers in the garden, you can easily cut away the beer cups.

Flower Bulbs on eBay 

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

5. Plant your Bulbs and Wait! 

- Snooooooooooooooooore

Take one container and place one or a few bulbs in there. Make a dent in the soil to stabilize a bulb in it. It does not matter if the bulbs are toughing each other.

You can choose to cover your bulbs with some soil. If you do this, remember to leave the tops uncovered. Personally, I never cover the bulbs. I like the way they look!

Store your bulbs in a dark room for about 3 to 6 weeks. The temperature must be between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius. This is the rooting period. When you see 3 centimeter green leaves come out of the bulbs, it is time to move them to your living room. But do not place them in direct sunlight yet!

6. Enjoy 

Enjoy the colours and the Scent.

Remember, if you want flowers during the whole year, plan your steps carefully. Flowers last about 4 to 6 weeks, so that means 6 cycles per year.

I have some more information, which I will post later this week.

My current Bulb Project Journal 

1. October 5, 2007: Bought Muscari Bulbs and placed them in the fridge.
2. November 10, 2007: I took the bulbs out of the fridge, prepared soil and planted the Bulbs.
3. November 10, 2007: I placed Narcissus and Hyacinth Bulbs in the fridge (release date:December 15, 2007).
4. November 12, 2007: The Muscari are developing roots.
5. November 14, 2007: More roots and I am seeing small green dots on top.
6. November 17,2007: Green dots are now 1cm in length.
7. November 20, 2007: Placed 2 cups with bulbs in living room to start flowering.
8. November 22, 2007: placed 2 additional cups in the living room. The other 2 are growing about 3cm per day.
9. November 30, 2007: Muscari are still growing. Replanted them into a basket. Plants are about 15cm in height.
10. December 26: First Muscari are in Bloom. I also planted some Tulips and narcissi and Hyacinths.
11. January 16: First hyacinth is in Bloom.
12. January 28: two other hyacinths are blooming

The Aargh The Ground is already Frozen Trick 

- worked great in my garden!

OK Don't worry, you are never too late. Even when the ground is frozen. Just follow these steps.

1. Remove snow are crap from your spot.
2. Poor boiling water over the exposed ground.
3. Place your bulbs in the correct position and press them into the wet ground.
4. Pour about 20 centimeter of good quality bagged soil over all the bulbs.
5. Let the snow work as isolator.
6. Enjoy nice bulbs in spring.

Does it really work? It did for me!

Keukenhof 

Higly Recommended Lens 

Daffodils, Daffodils, and More Daffodils

It's Daffodil planting time! Daffodil bulbs are available in the Fall, and need to be planted in the ground in the Fall before the first hard frost. Daffodils require a cold period in order to form roots. It is best to wait until the outside temperat...

Flower books on Amazon 

The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies

by Ted L. Petit, John P. Peat

Amazon Price: $32.97 (as of 07/19/2008)

The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom: 576 annuals, perennials, and bulbs in full color (Potting-Bench Reference Books)

by Eileen Powell

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/19/2008)

The Gardener's Iris Book

by William Shear, Roger Foley

Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 07/19/2008)

Great sites on Bulbs 

International Flower Bulb Center, Hillegom, The Netherlands

The homepage of flowerbulbs.ca, a source of news, photographs and technical information on flower bulbs and bulbflowers, garden-trends and interior.

Botanus.com

Botanus.com - The Best Plants for Canadian Gardens! Canada's largest selections of flowering bulbs with over 500 varieties including of rare and unusual bulbs.

Tulip World | Top Quality Dutch Flower Bulbs from Holland

On-line flower bulbs catalog for Spring/Fall. Large assortment of tulips, rare bulbs & perennials imported directly from Holland.

Leave a blurp if you like! 

StephanieManning Great info. I will have to link to your lens on my gardening lens! Thanks Posted June 24, 2008

witkop Nice pictures Posted November 20, 2007

schweitzerphil Great Lens, I am going to try your method. Posted November 20, 2007

flowergardener Beautiful page! Welcome to the Flowers, Flowers, and more Flowers Group! Posted November 15, 2007