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ohan_merguerian

Hyacinth

9 years ago

My understanding is that hyacinth requires cool weather to debvelope it's long flower stalk. Is this accurate?

I live in California, bought 3 hyacinths and I'm afraid the flower stalk might be too short. What can I do?

Comments (15)

  • 9 years ago

    They elongate over the course of the flowering, maybe you are going to have that happen. In fact they often fall over after they stretch out - you may later wish they had stayed shorter!

  • 9 years ago

    Great. thank you.

  • 9 years ago

    When do you recommend I bring them inside to enjoy the scent and flowers? Can Hyacinth grow indoors?

  • 9 years ago

    Because I am not organized like floral (nor have the room for forcing), I purchase small started pots of hyacinths at the nursery at this time of year. Once home, I repot them into a larger container as a group (usually 3 bulbs to a pot) and have them indoors to enjoy. They grow and bloom and scent my room for a good week to 10 days before the flowers start to fade. After the flowers go over, I take the pots back outdoors and plant the bulbs in the ground and let the foliage mature and ripen naturally. They come back in following seasons but the flowers are never as large or impressive as they are in their first year of bloom.

    In warmer climates, hyacinths may need a forced chilling period each year. Bulbs that don't receive the necessary chill may still grow and produce flowers but the stalks and flowerheads will be stunted and small and malformed.

    You can also cut hyacinths and bring the cut stems indoors to enjoy as well. But that only works well if the flower stems have the proper amount of elongation. A 2" long flower stalk is not going to provide much of a 'wow' factor!!

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, I didn't mention that these bulbs all go out into the garden after the flowers fade. They last for years but the flowers do decline as GG says.


  • 9 years ago

    This thread reminded me to get the last few out of the shed. Oops! Left them too long.

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh floral, that's too bad. They really wanted to grow even without sunshine. ...But I applaud you for showing the mistakes as well as the successes!

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    They are now greening up with the extra light but are still wild shapes. Scent is unaffected though so I'm not complaining. I'm still not sure if these were yellow or white. I wonder what blue and pink would have looked like with no light....

  • 9 years ago

    I attempted to force hyacinths this year with zero success. I also got some erhicheer daffs to force with zero success. I potted them up late, like in December, but put them on my sheltered porch under the grill and grill cover and took them out a few weeks ago. It's been a warm winter but evidently not warm enough. They were frozen solid and when they warmed up they just rotted. I need an extra fridge just for this.

  • 9 years ago

    Only once have my hyacinths ever frozen. Since I grow them in waterglasses a couple of them broke. But the hyacinths came to no harm. Your definition of a warm winter is a bit different from my, I think;-)

  • 9 years ago

    Oh, Floral, hyacinthicide!

  • 9 years ago

    I noticed today my hyacinth leaves have folded inwards? any advise?

  • 9 years ago

    Any advice? Yes. Stop worrying about them. If You can post a picture we can tell you if there is really a problem or not. But there's really little you can do to change their behaviour this late in their life cycle.

    By the way, it wasn't hyacinthicide. Once they were out in the light they greened up and straightened out.

  • 9 years ago

    Great! I agree lol.

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