don't worry if you didn't start any bulbs yet

Even if you didn't start any bulbs in vases you can still have hyacinths in bloom in vases for Christmas (even though I did start bulbs I couldn't resist buying more vases so I need to do this too). You can transfer bulbs in pots on sale now to vases. These near me were on sale for £1.95 for single bulbs and £3.95 for a pot of three.

These are my new vases which I got ready and I took the bulbs out of the pots.

I tried soaking the roots in water to help the soil come away and gently rinsed off the roots. After I started I belatedly realized it would have been better just to buy single bulbs as the pot of three had entangled roots, not worth the effort for the savings.

The roots turned out to be very tightly packed and a bit difficult to get them into the vase. Some of the roots,  being very brittle, inevitably broke.

(and there's my new cat top right of the pic below, looking like a Friesian cow)

After some tedious effort rinsing off the roots and easing them into the vases, they look great. I wasn't going to use the Charles I vase this year as it's a bit big but it turned out to be ideal for accommodating the large roots.