I’m not sure how I missed these marvelous plants when they were blooming in the spring. Maybe it is because I gave a lot of the potted bulbs away and the ones that were left had slug damage that resulted in no photo-worthy flowers.

Forcing these bulbs is something I’ve taken on for many years. The bulbs are relatively inexpensive, so I’ve planted hundreds of them. The forcing pots make excellent gifts once they have chilled for six weeks–they require almost no care to coax the intricate, sometimes fragrant flowers to pop out.

Here are some of the bulbs I planted this fall. I’m leaving them outside to chill high up on shelves away from the slugs that found them last year in the cold frame.

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And here is what these flowers have looked like in the past.

Future plans are to continue to force these bulbs every year for gifts and for windowsill displays. The pots will come into the greenhouse a few at a time starting in mid-January to ease them into blooming.