Forces of nature The knack of “forcing” bulbs can help keep winter blahs at bay

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As the curtain falls on autumn, the paperwhite narcissus takes the stage – its tiny roots clinging to a pile of rocks, its long, slender leaves reaching toward the sun. For weeks, the drama unfolds, from the time the first green shoots peek out of the bulb until the last white blossom withers away.

Though its beauty is fleeting, the show is worth it. For a short time, the flowers fill your home with heady perfume and a sweet sense of spring. It’s no wonder paperwhite and amaryllis bulbs start showing up at garden centers and supermarkets at this time of year. We need a little brightness.

“I think the bulbs themselves just jazz up everything,” said Melissa Howe of Fiachre, a plant emporium at the Dunne Roman shop in Portland. “They’re really fun, wonderful things.”

They’re really easy, too. The brilliant midwinter blooms are well worth the small investment of time, money and energy. If you prefer, you can head to your local greenhouse, where they’ve already done the work for you. But making your own display is half the fun.

If you start now, you can have tulips, crocuses, hyacinths or snowdrops by February. If you can’t stand the wait, you could try paperwhites and amaryllis, which don’t need any dormant time before they start growing. The paperwhites will start blooming within a couple of weeks (Howe favors the “Ziva” variety, which has a light fragrance and a sturdier stem than most) and the amaryllis take about eight to 12 weeks to bloom. After that, the flowers can last up to a month.

“Paperwhites and amaryllis, they don’t need any cold time at all,” Mary Lou Hoskins, who owns Greencare in Hermon, said. “They take right off.”

Because both varieties come from warm climates, they don’t require a chilling period, or dormant time, so these plants aren’t technically “forced.” By forcing a hardy bulb, you’re tricking it into thinking it slept through the winter. The warmth of your windowsill feels like spring to the bulb, and in turn, it starts to grow as it would in your garden. In “Forcing, Etc.” author Katherine Whiteside describes the process eloquently.

“Although we are stuck calling it forcing, it is truly an easy, beautiful and gentle art,” she writes. “All you have to do is simulate late autumn, deep winter and early spring in an accelerated time frame.”

Though many people think they need to have all their bulbs in bloom by Christmas, that’s not the case. If you really need an amaryllis as your holiday centerpiece, go buy one at the store. Otherwise, sit back, relax, and pot up a few bulbs on your own. Either way, you won’t have to wait until April to see flowers again.

“You can force all kinds of things,” Hoskins said. “Any bulb that you would normally plant outdoors you can force inside, too.”

Forcing hardy bulbs

The first step, of course, is to find a bulb you like. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses (which are technically corms), hyacinths, grape hyacinths and snowdrops all are hardy bulbs that will perform well indoors, though Howe said you need to have “the touch” with tulips. If you’re a first-timer, start out with one bulb per pot. If you’ve done this before, Hoskins suggests planting several complementary bulbs together in a window box to create a little landscape indoors.

“You really get a nice show that way,” she said.

Though each variety has its own nuances, the directions for potting up hardy bulbs are pretty much the same. It doesn’t matter what type of container you use, though you’ll often see bulbs planted in shallow containers because their root systems don’t need that much room. Terra-cotta containers dry out faster, but they’re simple and attractive.

In “Forcing, Etc.,” Whiteside suggests mixing three parts potting soil (not the kind that has fertilizer in it) with one part sand to ensure proper drainage. Place a layer of gravel in the bottom of the pot, cover with soil and pack it in, leaving room for the bulbs. Plant crocus and hardy narcissus 1 inch deep into the soil and cover. If you’re planting hyacinths or tulips, leave the tops of the bulbs sticking out, but fill in around them with soil. Water thoroughly.

Find a spot that’s cold, but not freezing (between 35 and 40 degrees). Hoskins suggests storing the bulbs in a cellar with a bulkhead or a spare refrigerator, but an unheated mudroom or a barn will work just as well. You can even use your regular refrigerator, if there’s room, but you can’t store fruit and bulbs together, Whiteside writes, because the ethylene gas released by ripening fruit causes the flowers to be deformed. She also warns against mice, who love to snack on crocus and tulip bulbs.

Place the pots in an easily accessible storage area so you can water them regularly. Chill them about two months, until you see little roots coming out the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot.

“They have to use that time to make roots,” Hoskins said.

Some plants also will start to sprout leaf shoots on top. Take the bulbs out of cold storage and place them in a cool, somewhat sunny spot indoors. Water regularly, and the plants will start to grow. Blossoms should appear in a few weeks.

When the show is over, you can save the bulbs (if you force them in soil, not water) and plant them in the garden. Or, as Whiteside writes, you can just throw them in the compost heap. The only bulbs you’ll really want to save are amaryllis, which tend to cost $10 apiece and up and are designed to come back year after year.

Forcing tender bulbs

You don’t have to force tender bulbs into anything – they’re ready to grow. They require no down time. You don’t need to chill them. In fact, if you leave them around, they’ll start growing without water or soil, though the results will not be pleasant.

“They just want to grow,” Howe said. “It’s their time and they’re ready.”

For paperwhites, all you need to do is pot them up as you would a hardy narcissus, water, and place them in a sunny spot. You also can force them in water (see the water forcing section below), which is clean, easy and pretty.

Amaryllis need a little more coddling, but not much. Howe says the secret is to find a container that just fits the bulb (amaryllis bulbs are huge, in keeping with their giant stalks and big, butterfly-esque flowers). Pot it up, water it once, ignore it until it sprouts a flower stalk and start watering again once it does. Whatever you do, don’t water it too often or too heavily.

“Oftentimes people kill them with water,” Howe said.

You don’t want to commit plant homicide, but if your amaryllis starts to get too top heavy, you may need to drive a stake into the pot. Often, and especially with amaryllis, you’ll need to stake the plant so it doesn’t tumble under its own weight. Try to choose something that will blend in, such as a green-painted bamboo stalk cut to size or a thin wire stake, so it won’t detract from the blossom.

Hoskins said there are “a zillion varieties of amaryllis” to choose from, including miniatures for people who don’t have a lot of room and plants with double blossoms. Howe favors the “Red Lion,” and the “Red Peacock,” a “really lovely” double-blossomed amaryllis. “Jewel,” with its short stature and lilylike white flowers, is another favorite.

“That’s really elegant,” Howe said.

Even more common varieties become elegant with the right display. At Fiachre, her garden shop named for the Celtic patron saint of gardeners, Howe has her amaryllis planted in simple clay pots, but she added a little intrigue by planting winter rye grass in the soil around the bulb. That way, indoor gardeners can see green without waiting for the bulb’s leaves to unfurl.

With the paperwhites, Howe water-forces them in a base of stones. But she jazzes up the stones by covering them with cranberries for a unique, festive look. Paperwhites are so eager to bloom, Howe says, that you can even stick them into a wreath with a florist’s pick. They’ll set down roots in the wreath and start growing as they would normally.

“Bulbs really amaze me,” she said.

Water forcing

Forcing bulbs in water shows off their graceful root system, especially when you place the flowers in a clear glass container on a windowsill. The display has one drawback, however: Once you’ve forced a bulb in water, it won’t bloom again.

“When you’re forcing a bulb in water it’s using all its stored energy,” Hoskins said. “After that, the bulb is exhausted. If it’s in water it’s not getting any of the nutrients back.”

Not all varieties will grow in water alone. Paperwhite narcissus, hyacinths, crocuses and amaryllis can be forced in water, though Hoskins says it’s better to grow amaryllis in a pot because they’re more expensive and they will last from year to year if you take care of them.

If you choose to force hyacinths or crocuses indoors, place them in a glass container with a base of stones, marbles or sea glass on the bottom, for the roots to grab on to. Store them in brown paper bags, checking water levels regularly, for two months in a cold but not freezing place (similar to potted bulb storage). When the chilling is over, bring them indoors to a cool, bright spot and watch them grow.

Paperwhites and amaryllis don’t need cold time. Just prop them up, water them and let them go. Sometimes, the simplest display is the best – a tall, cylindrical glass vase with a few pebbles on the bottom works beautifully, plus, the container becomes its own support system – no stakes needed. In garden centers, you can find hourglass-shaped clear glass containers, often called hyacinth vases or forcing vases, that suspend a bulb so that its roots are just touching the water. These are great for hyacinths and amaryllis alike. (A set of three very attractive crackled-glass forcing vases is available at www.gardeners.com). But pretty much any container will do, including a drinking glass, a teacup filled with marbles, or an egg cup for a tiny crocus.

Whatever you do, don’t worry. It’s easy to add a dramatic splash of spring to a dull, gray day. Just grab a few bulbs, use a little creativity and let the show begin.

Resources abound for forcing ideas. For help or inspiration, visit your local garden center. The richly illustrated “Forcing, Etc.” by Katherine Whiteside is packed with information for novices and experts alike. It’s published by Workman Publishing Co. and costs $24.95.