Deep in Winter, bulbs emerge with a promise of Spring. Even before bulbs sprout outside and their blooms appear, bulbs potted inside in a French Country urn brighten our Winter-weary indoors while we wait for Spring to appear outside.
Cold, dreary Winter days can be depressing, but indoor flowering bulbs work wonders to lift our spirits.
F R E N C H C O U N T R Y
W I N T E R B U L B S
p r o m i s e S p r i n g
For those of us who did not plan ahead or who were swamped with the seasons at hand last Fall, and did not order Spring blooming bulbs or if we did, did not get them planted, take heart. Local garden centers offer potted Spring bulbs just for folks like us.
Five individually pre-planted hyacinth bulbs arranged in a French Country white pedestal urn bloom inside in the dead of Winter in mid-February.
The silent void of Winter, after Valentine's Day and before the red-breasted robins appear, can be filled with fragrant blooming bulbs.
Pink, lavender, and yellow hyacinths offer the promise of Spring inside before their counterparts planted in the ground outside emerge. Just a few blooms are enough to dispel the gloom of gray skies hanging low outside.
And when sunshine appears between rainy, soggy days, the large French Country white pedestal urn in front of a blooming bulb wall print glows, filling the room with a vision of Spring to come.
To recreate a similar arrangement in your home, head to your local garden center to buy a handful of your favorite Spring bulbs. These bulbs came from the Walmart garden center near me and only cost about a dollar per 4-inch potted bulb.
Place a large urn on a flat glass plate to protect furniture surfaces from water.
Place a large flat plastic saucer or glass plate in the bottom of the large container so the 4-inch potted plants have a stable, flat base on which to sit inside the urn.
After placing the pots on the flat plate, add crumpled paper all around the edges of the pots to fill in the space. See some of the crumpled paper at the back edge of the pot shown.
Add preserved moss on top of the potted bulbs and on top of the crumpled paper. Water the bulbs when the soil feels dry to the touch. You should be able lift the moss to see exactly where the pots are when watering them. The plastic saucer or glass plate inside the urn will catch the excess water.
Enjoy the plants inside until the blooms fade. Remove the spent bulbs to an outdoor gardening area where you can save the bulbs to plant outside next Fall.
Winter is far from over, but lift your spirits with pre-planted bulbs from gardening centers. A variety of Winter bulbs can be displayed inside a French Country urn and remind us of the promise that Spring is coming.
I f W i n t e r c o m e s ,
c a n S p r i n g b e f a r b e h i n d ?
"Ode to the West Wind"
Percy Bysshe Shelley
For more Winter plant ideas
