Hyacinths: An easy bulb to grow indoors in plain water

Last year's hyacinth bulbs growing inside in water. I enjoy observing the root growth in glass containers.This year's hyacinth bulbs are growing surprisingly well in filtered water.

I usually order some of the bulbs I force into bloom, but after consistent quality issues with one supplier, I am happy, so far, that I decided to try plain ol' home improvement store bulbs.

It didn't hurt that I found several options on 50-percent-off clearance at Home Depot in Westfield. (That store is like Home Depot from another planet. They are SO nice! Every staffer who passes asks if you need help finding something -- and then they actually lead you to the aisle and show you the thing you are looking for. I usually go to bigger HD stores anticipating greater selection and, often, suffering greater aggravation. Wish it had occurred to me more often to check the Westfield store.)

Anyway, back to the point. All the spring-flowering bulbs I bought were stored in the garage to chill (literally, not in the "Let's Chill" sense) in my unheated basement. (I only know for sure that tulips need a cold kickstart, but maybe it benefited this year's hyacinths as well.)

All the bulbs I bought were those that are usually planted outdoors in the fall to bloom in spring, but I like to use them for living indoor flower arrangements. So, on Dec. 15, I pulled out lots of vases, containers full of marbles, small stones and acrylic "crystal" vase fillers. Each vase was layered inside with an inch or two of these fillers to support the bulbs. Each bulb's bottom barely touches water in the vase.

The other bulbs were placed back in the garage, but the hyacinths are always set at a somewhat sunny kitchen window. Last year's hyacinths were from a different Dutch grower, grown in unfiltered water and in a different container. Only the location is same. 

This year's bulbs in a photo taken today. They have a stronger root system and are growing more quickly than last year's bulbs.

So I doubt that the water is the only reason this year's roots have grown in so densely in a short period. They look like white mounds of thin spaghetti. Despite the root growth, the bulbs are not heavy drinkers. I have only added a little water since I set them, and that was just because I wanted to do something besides admire their growth and the way the lighter areas of their purple jackets will sometimes appear iridescent at certain times of day.

This year's bulbs are also growing quickly. They had tiny sprouts when I set them in December, and I can now see the start of flowers in those with open leaf tips. With all the growth so far, this year's bulbs might actually bloom later this month. Last year, the hyacinths I planted the previous December had their first flowers in mid-February.

I usually purchase my more unusual testing bulbs from Williams Nursery, and I'll post later on this year's first-time forcing efforts with less common bulbs. Last year's attempt at indoor freesias was a fail -- a HUGE fail -- so I decided to stay with larger bulb varieties this year. 

I've mentioned previously that I've had my bulb-forcing photos stolen online. Rather than take so much time watermarking each image, my latest strategy is to put up photos that are illustrative but not my best shots. Hopefully this will help!  

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