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Winter Food for Senses and Soulby
Suzanne Fischer In
the middle of the winter when there is nothing growing outside except
for
icicles, we become hungry for the sight and smell of living vegetation.
One way
to lift spirits and indulge senses without any negative side effects is
to
spend a few moments contemplating the elegant beauty of fragrant spring
flowers
growing and blooming in your own home. At Honest Weight, the produce
department
is providing the most important ingredient for such a venture:
Narcissus bulbs
for forcing. Our
produce manager Gayle has chosen bulbs from Fedco Seed Company that are
already
pre-treated with the appropriate amount of cold to encourage growth
when bulbs
are planted during the winter. These bulbs will be available starting
in
November for holiday gifts. Four different kinds of Narcissus are being
offered
at $1.25 per bulb, each with its own color, fragrance and growing time
until
bloom: •
Chinese Sacred Lily,
popular in Victorian England, has
white petals and a yellow cup. Although it takes longer to root and has
fewer
flowers than other varieties, it compensates with a sweet fragrance. It
grows
to between 16 and 20 inches tall. •
Grand Soleil d’Or is
a French heirloom with medium golden
yellow petals and an orange cup. It also takes longer to bloom,
about four to
six weeks, but rewards the grower with a light fruity scent. It reaches
12 to
14 inches. •
Sheleg,
also known as •
Ziva,
one of the fastest bulbs for forcing, takes
about two weeks till bloom time and is the most floriferous. It is 16
to 18
inches high at maturity and produces white flowers with a strong musky,
spicy fragrance.
These blooms do not last as long as other varieties. Forcing
bulbs is fairly simple. Choose a shallow pot without drainage holes
wide enough
for several bulbs. Gayle suggests grouping three or five of the same
type of bulbs
per six-inch pot. Fill half-way with stones
or other coarse material, set the bulbs
in root side down (pointed side up), and fill the container with fine
stones,
sand, light potting mix or other material until bulbs are two-thirds
covered.
Pour in water until it reaches the base of the bulbs. Keep the pot in a
cool
area (50° to 65°) with plenty of indirect light for leaf
growth. When the
plants have three to five inches of leaf growth, bring them into direct
light
to encourage flowering. Once blooms appear, remove the plants from
direct sun
to keep them from fading quickly. Some
simple tips will help your bulbs reach their maximum potential
loveliness. If you
plant your bulbs more toward the end of the winter, their time to
blooming will
be shorter. Do not use rich potting soil or overwater, which can cause
rot. Too
much heat will cause premature flowering, so do not place them on or
near
radiators or wood stoves. When the bulbs are finished flowering, do not
expect
them to survive if you plant them outside, because they are hardy in a
warmer
temperature zone than the one in which we live. |
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