Re: Forcing bulbs

Bob,
Someone told me this works with lilies of the valley because, like bulbs,
the flowers are already in the pip-- if you cut one open you can see the
embryo inside it.

While we're on the subject, I've also done something similar with
astilbes and bleeding heart (dicentra spectabilis, the pink form). I
never tried refrigerating them but let winter do it for me, then in late
Jan or so fork a chunk out of the edge of the mother clump and pot it.
They will flower in a windowsill with no special care. If you have mature
clumps of either one that you'd have to divide anyway, this is fun and so
nice in winter. Anywhere you don't have periodic winter thaws you'd
probably have to dig in late fall and refrigerate, though.

		Mary
		MO zone 6
> 
> I have never heard of this for lilies of the valley, but it sounds 
> pretty
> easy and fun.  I have never forced bulbs (or anything else) yet, but 
> since
> I have more of these than I need, what do I have to lose?!  Thanks.
> 
> Bob
> NE Kansas
> 
> At 09:06 PM 11/04/1999 -0600, Mary wrote:
> >I've heard that lilies of the valley can also be bought prechilled 
> (don't
> >know where) but if you have a stand in your garden it's a lot 
> cheaper and
> >very easy to dig your own. Last week I dug my winter's supply, 
> choosing
> >only the biggest pips because the smaller ones won't flower. I put 
> them
> >in a ziplock bag in the fridge for 12 weeks. Any time after that 
> you can
> >pull a handfull out of the bag, put them in soil or on gravel with 
> water
> >(again don't drown them) and put in a closet or a fairly warm room 
> with a
> >paper bag over them to keep them dark. Remove the bag and put in 
> sunny
> >window when the leaves are well up. They bloom about 3 weeks after 
> you
> >start them. After flowering yuo can either throw them out or grow 
> them on
> >and plant in the garden in spring. It will be a couple of years 
> before
> >they flower again.
> >
> >		Hope this helps--
> >		Mary 
> >		MO zone 6
> >
> 
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