Winter blooms

Silly me! When I spoke of the low cost high impact remedies for the winter blahs I omitted one of the most pleasurable nostrums: flowering bulbs. Let’s chalk that up to inadequate space and move on. Most of these indoor blooms take some planning if you force them. Daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, narcissus or tulips are the common ones. These require a chilling period so that, if you purchase them in the fall, you will have to give them a good 8-10 weeks at 40° or less in the refrigerator, sealed in a container that prevents excessive moisture loss. Most refrigerators maintain a low humidity and will quickly rob the bulb of moisture unless you put them in the high humidity tray. You know how withered carrots start to look if left too long in an open package. On the other hand some bulbs are labelled for forcing, so they are either pre-chilled or are of the type which do not require cooling, such as amaryllis or paper white narcissus.

Those are easy and beautiful. The array of varieties of amaryllis is stunning and gets better every year. They are by far the most cheering and showy, trumpeting away at the passing of time toward the approaching return of the sun, lending their colorful and dramatic shapes as an offering of faith.

If you are lucky you can get them to re-bloom by giving them a proper rest as described by many world wide web experts. Most other bulbs are so exhausted by the effort of forcing blooms that they are hardly worth saving even if you can plant them outside in the interim. This isn’t a hard and fast rule because they very well may have spark of life left but their subsequent culture will require lots of attention and perfect conditions in order to bring them back to full vigor. In the southern empire we are blessed with amaryllis and paper whites as perennials but the trade-off is that our gardens rarely permit the perennial return of the other beautiful bulbs mentioned above.

It would be delicious to combine fragrance with the payoff of amaryllis but we ought not be greedy. Our winter camellias have taught us that you simply can’t have everything. On the other hand, the fragrance of paper whites is very particular and will easily permeate an entire room from a cool sunny window, but for real effect in that line I’ll take freesia every time. For some reason they have become scarce in the trade and more is the pity, say I. Like paper whites, they need just enough growing medium to get a grip and enough sun to discourage lank growth and their fragrance can be simply as sweet as any spring bloom. For color and fragrance they win! Some fragrant jasmine plants sold for the same effect in supermarkets may offer instant winter relief but are usually short-lived in reward. They require exacting conditions to bloom and may turn into a rampant twining living room vine after the first season.

The point of all this is that winter blooms, no matter their form, can offer everyone a chance to grow and to focus on a living thing which amply repays your attentions. For chasing away the gloom, every little thing adds up and they can help. Then there are the orchids, a whole huge topic of itself! And don’t even get me started on fragrant candles and bubble baths!

Kisses,

Celeste