Christmas 2024 / New Year 2025

Delft Blue hyacinths

forced Delft Blue hyacinths for Christmas in hyacinth vases

some that did not bloom properly

forced delft blue hyacinths for christmas in hyacinth vases

Delft Blue (I am assuming, came in a multi-pack of un-named varieties from Sainsbury's)

forced hyacinth vase Christmas

unfortunately I did not note the variety of this pink hyacinth (I have a spreadsheet of my forcing details but sometimes I miss noting everything - I try to do better each year!)

forced hyacinth for Christmas hyacinth vase

an amaryllis I had outside which I brought inside to see if it might spring to life and it has, I see a stem with a fat bud emerging

amaryllis

I cut the spent flowers off this amaryllis and then noticed this new bud emerging

amaryllis bud sprouting

established amaryllis in comparison with the one recently brought inside

amaryllis for Christmas

hyacinth bulb bowl out of the dark, shows how variable forcing hyacinths are: 2 bulbs have fat buds, 2 bulbs with small shoots, 1 rotten bulb without roots or stem (see next photo)

hyacinth bulb bowl

hyacinth from centre of the bulb bowl above

rotten hyacinth bulb

amaryllis in comparison with the smaller bulbs: hyacinths and crocus

amaryllis forced hyacinth vases

Jan Bos hyacinths

jan bos forced hyacinths vase Christmas

Woodstock hyacinths

forced woodstock hyacinths Christmas vase

I usually use 1 white variety of hyacinth and this year I tried Snow Crystal for the first time (I think it's new).  They are wildly variable. 5 of the 10 bulbs have no roots at all, 5 have roots varying from "some" to "reasonable" to "lots and lots" (according to my notes). One is in bloom. One has more well-developed bulblets than I've ever seen on one bulb.

These two photos are all 10 of my Snow Crystal hyacinths.

forced hyacinths Christmas hyacinth vase

Tye uranium vases with Snow Crystal hyacinth bulbs

snow crystal hyacinths in Tye uranium hyacinth vases

the bulges under the bulb's paper covering which prompted me to remove the papery covering.

bulblets under papery bulb cover snow crystal

when I removed the papery covering I saw 4 bulblets, 2 of which are multi-stemmed

snow crystal hyacinth bulb with bulblets