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Bulbs and Tubers

Growing paperwhites

December 10, 2010 by Andrea Bellamy 11 Comments

There’s really nothing simpler. 1. Place paperwhite bulbs in jar/vase/pot/bowl. 2. Cover the bottom two-thirds of the bulbs with potting soil, pebbles, or marbles. 3. Add water. 4. Stand back. Most paperwhite-growing advice says the bulbs take about six weeks to mature, but that simply isn’t true. These guys were blooming in two-and-a-half weeks. That […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, Indoors

Earth Day garden and baby update

April 22, 2008 by Andrea Bellamy 15 Comments

“Oh the days are long/ ‘Til the baby comes…” – Sinead O’Connor That’s right – I’m still waiting for this baby. One week past my due date and just learned today that the baby, which for the last nine months has been perfectly positioned, has rotated and is now posterior. This just confirms my suspicions […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, My garden, Perennials, Shrubs & Trees Tagged With: Acer palmatum dissectum 'Viridis', Acer palmatum Firegold, bc, bc native plants, beni kawa, Erythronium grandiflorum, fireglow, maidenhair fern, sword fern, Vancouver, yellow fawn lily

Growing paperwhites in January

January 24, 2008 by Andrea Bellamy Leave a Comment

I’ve always grown paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta) for the holiday season – force of habit, I guess. But this winter I just didn’t get around to picking up any bulbs, and before I knew it, it was all “Happy new year!” and I had no stinky white flowers in my house. On a jaunt to the […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, Indoors Tagged With: bloom, narcissus, paperwhite, paperwhites, vodka

First snowdrop

January 13, 2008 by Andrea Bellamy 5 Comments

Today, a milestone – the first snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) of the year! It seems early, but I don’t seem to have recorded its first appearance before. (Note to myself in 2009: I actually noticed the first bloom about a week ago, but it was only this weekend that I had enough light to photograph by, […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, My garden Tagged With: bulbs, galanthus nivalis, snowdrop

Happy Valentine’s day

February 14, 2007 by Andrea Bellamy 1 Comment

Crocuses aren’t usually the flower that immediately springs to mind when I think of Valentine’s Day. But according to the Royal Horticultural Society, Crocus sativus, the saffron crocus, is also known as St. Valentine’s Rose. I looked it up, and found this here: Crocuses flower around Valentine’s Day. Krokos was the Greek name for the […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers

Update: Paperwhites love vodka

December 19, 2006 by Andrea Bellamy 3 Comments

As an update to an earlier post that cited a study showing that small amounts of alcohol (rubbing or martini-ready) can limit the sometimes-overzealous growth of bulbs such as paperwhites, I’m here to report that it’s true! I wasn’t forward-thinking enough to grow a control batch of bulbs so show my readers (next year I […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers

Has the fat lady sung for my paperwhites?

January 4, 2006 by Andrea Bellamy Leave a Comment

I was always told that paperwhite bulbs were only good for one round of forcing, and to throw them away after the party ended. Of course, I had to at least try to get them to bloom again. I saved last year’s forced bulbs and replanted them, hoping to force them for Christmas. Sadly, only […]

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, My garden

Bulb thieves

November 18, 2005 by Andrea Bellamy Leave a Comment

Over at Takoma Gardener, Susan reveals her secret to detering squirrels from stealing her bulbs: she scatters red pepper flakes over her bulb plantings. Brilliant!

Filed Under: Bulbs and Tubers, How To

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