Hyacinths Are Excellent As Pot Plants, Too...

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29797, 13 April 1962, Page 7

Hyacinths Are Excellent As Pot Plants, Too...

Hyacinths are one of the, popular plants for spring bedding, and they make excellent pot-plants, too, if they are well grown. For early i flowering next spring they : should be planted without ! delay. The longer the op- : portunity for root growth, j the better the flowers which : result. Like most bulbous ' plants, hyacinths have their (flowers already formed inside | the bulb when you buy it. The larger the size of the ,bulb you buy, the better the i quality of flower which rei suits. Good growing on your (part will ensure that the (flowers are of the very best ' quality!

Glazed bowls are sometimes used for bulb growing, and they are very suitable for the job as long as you remember that they have no drainage holes in the bottom, and consequently collect all the surplus unused water. In a bowl, water must be given

only as required. When grown in a pot, which has a drainage hole at the base, you can overwater, and it makes little difference, for the surplus drains away. Most nurserymen sell specially prepared bulb “fibre” for use in bowls, which consists mainly of peat, together with materials such as oyster shell and charcoal which help to keep the conditions nice and “sweet.” You can use ordinary potting soil where bulbs are grown in pots, but this is not suitable for bulbs grown in a bowl. Fili your bowl or pot with fibre or soil, as appropriate, to within about an inch and a half of the top. Pots should be provided with broken crocks as drainage in the bottom, but drainage is not needed in a bowl. Now press the bulbs into the potting mixture, so that they are about an inch apart. Don’t be mean over the number of

bulbs in your bowl —too few will make your bowl look very thin. Cover the bulbs with more soil or bulb-fibre, pressing the added soil down between the bulbs until the bowl is filled to within half an inch of the top, and the tip of the bulb only is showing. Give them a good water to finish off with. Now take the bulbs out of doors to a cool shady spot, and cover the whole pot right over with soil, to about six inches deep. This will give cool conditions and encourage the bulbs to form plenty of roots. If you keep them in a warm, light spot, or even the airing cupboard, they will begin to grow before adequate roots have been formed, and poor plants will result.

Bulbs are brought back indoors to force when the shoots are about two or three inches in length. They are gradually exposed to increasing light and warmth, when the flower spikes will develop quite rapidly. Half a dozen hyacinth bulbs will give you considerable pleasure as you watch them grow and develop to lovely spikes of pink, white, blue or yellow, that remain attractive for several weeks.