Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Has the fat lady sung?

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 one of the five bulbs bloomed this year.

So, I've decided to try planting them outdoors, after reading that you cannot force the same bulbs year after year - oops! - with the exception of amaryllis, but that some gardeners have success replanting the bulbs in their yard.

I've learned that when you force a bulb, you interrupt its natural growth cycle. But apparently if you replant them soon after they finish blooming, bulbs will usually return to their normal cycle within a year or two.

Has anyone ever tried this? Did it work for you?

1 Comments:

Blogger Jenn said...

Haven't tried it, but I'm in zone five. You will have to tell us how this goes.

Certainly most daffs will spring back after being relocated from a unhappy location, blooming well after taking a slow year rebuilding...

10:30 AM  

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