On Friday these little bulbs were just green shoots on top of a stereo. You may remember that this is where I had a pink bulb and a white one in full color.

I also mentioned that I had brought 2 more up from the basement that had been started just a month ago.

Here they are. They are already showing evidence of blooming in 4 weeks time. You may wonder how this can be, when the original bulbs took 8-9 weeks.

Two reasons. First these bulbs, although they weren’t planted, have been in the same cool spot as the others so they have been chilled for the same amount of time.

Next, we are closer to spring (even though spring comes in July in my climate–we’re still closer now than we were in November). And all plants, even bulbs, can tell that. So once they are given a signal to wake up, they do so more quickly than they do in November.

My “white” amaryllis continues to be interesting. It’s probably more interesting than a plain white one would have been. So that turned into a gift, I suppose.

Next week I will be out of state. It will be interesting to see what the flowers of the south are doing.

Remember these?

Here they are, in their full glory.

(Please disregard the background. It’s a Civil War artifact that belongs to the Spoiler. It was his family’s).

And here are the next two, coming along right behind them. Spring bulbs in the dead of winter require a little planning. These were started Thanksgiving weekend (the last weekend of November for my non-United States readers).

Once I saw the above 2 coming along so nicely (the first photo), I started 2 more–roughly the last weekend in December as I recall. And as soon as these two bloomers finish up, I will start 2 more (I only have 6 forcing vases, so I kind of stagger the starting 2 at a time).

But this is the perfect time for all of these to start blooming. It’s when it’s the coldest here and when we are likely to have the most snow. It’s a full month before any of the flower shows start. It doesn’t get any better than this for me.

Oh, and did I mention hyacinths are fragrant? Ah, spring!

These bulbs, my photo from Wednesday, are a literal stopper every year. Runners stop, walkers stop, and this year, because of the weediness of the garden, I find that dogs are stopping and making use of the bulbs too. It doesn’t seem to be harming them.

The bulbs are commonly known as “autumn crocus” but there are actual crocus that come up in autumn so this is a case where common names can get very confusing.

These bulbs are colchicums. And unlike most other bulbs that I have planted in my heavy wet clay, these have thrived. They are not bothered by deer (or dogs, apparently), they are not bothered by town snowplows that pile snow on this garden all winter (along with whatever chemicals our town currently uses to treat the roads–I think it’s currently magnesium chloride) and they are not bothered by weeds that attempt to choke them out as this photo shows.

The only one that has not done well for me is a lovely double variety called ‘Waterlily.’ I planted it and it didn’t even survive the first year. Other than that, all the species I have planted have survived and come back.

One thing to note: as with all bulbs, you will have to deal with bulb foliage. This foliage comes up in the spring and lingers into June. I don’t particularly care because I have the roses here.

If this is something you care about, plant these bulbs were the foliage won’t bother you–in other words, where spring plants will distract from the foliage.

Here are just a few of the amaryllis currently blooming at my house. I am sure that our visitors get quite a shock when they drive up and see this. The row of pots with these in them are the first thing you see as you pull up my driveway.

Here are more of them. Obviously these are amaryllis that I have saved from prior years and just pulled out of my basement in May.

What I will do with all of these when they finish blooming is repot them to give them fresh soil. Then I will leave them just where they are, under my dogwood, getting morning sun.

At Labor Day (first Monday in September for my non-US readers) I turn the pots on their sides so that they can begin to dry out. If, for some reason that doesn’t do it, I will bring the pots into my garage for a week or so until the soil dries. Then I carry them back down to the basement–yes, even if they still have foliage–until one of 2 things happens.

Occasionally one of the amaryllis will begin sending up a flower stalk early. In that case, I bring it up into my house and begin watering it.

But if not, I will remove dead foliage as needed and they will remain there until next May, most likely, when they will come back outside and begin flowering all over again.