Hi Feather! My guess is if you plant them this spring they will grow and you'll get foliage the first year, but the year after that probably flowers. I'd add some bone meal in when you plant them.
I love paper whites....they are so pretty when planted in a group. Hope yours grow for you!!!
I grow paperwhites every year, but I've been told that after forcing they are only good for compost. I'll try to plant this latest batch outside in the fall and see what happens. I'm also trying Chinese Sacred Lily, which looks a lot like a miniature daffodil, or so I've been told. It also smells better than paperwhites. Did you know you have to have a specific gene to smell paperwhites as "skinky"? My DH definitely has it, he hates them! Foxglove
I've often wondered about the Stinky gene myself! My father hates the smell of Lilacs. My mother always cuts a bunch of them bnd brings them inside. Dad thinks they smell like turpentine of all things!
No kidding? I didn't know about the stinky gene. The smell of paperwhites just about makes me gag.
I think the bit about not being good for anything but the compost is just a myth created by people who don't know any better. They are no different than any other flowering bulb. I don't know why planting them in the ground and letting them grow wouldn't work. They won't bloom this spring, but next year they should bloom just fine.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Bloom where you are planted.
tulips 4 buddy at yahoo dot com
Posts: 2181 | Location: Zone 4 Central South Dakota | Registered: June 20, 2002
Thanks all, I really didn't want to put them in the compost. Think I'll put them in the ground as soon as it's digable. I like them too. Didn't know about the skinky gene eather. I think my DH has that. He thinks anything like that smell bad. Incence, candles, perfume ect. Cann't stand to be around it.
Sitting here listening to it sleet out side. It's about 25 out and nasty. Roads are iceing up and some stuck to the trees earlier.
Gonna be a long couple days. And makes it seem spring is sooooooooooo far away.
I'd never heard about the gene, but I DO know that a lot of times, things that WOMEN find pleasant smelling, GUYS think stink! Maybe it's either just a "guy thing", or a sex-related gene that causes the difference!
I had paperwhites in with a bunch of (brain fade here - ack!) floral irises (bulbs, not rhizomes) out in the yard, and all the leaves for everything started coming up over Thanksgiving. We started moving the weekend before Christmas. One paperwhite bloom. Transported short distance in the back of my truck with no cover - still one paperwhite bloom. All the rest of the blooms came up in the week after the move. To me, they reek. I adore other narcissus, and will get more bulbs but the paperwhites are pretty outside, and will NEVER be cut for inside my home. DH hates all scented stuff too, and has small tolerance for flowers, and no tolerance for bath goods or incense. My children have to block all door cracks if they want to burn things in their bedrooms.
Roses do better when nibbled by goats, really they do! Sweetpeas in August, but no (*&^ tomatoes.
Posts: 5 | Location: Coastal California, zones 9b/17 | Registered: January 21, 2004
I bought the little kit with a small pot, a small bag of soil, and 1 bulb and grew it in my window last winter. It did flower, in a matter of weeks. Very pretty little blooms, but very big stink. Will not grow in the house again. Had to buy something else this winter. Never thought about growing them outside, but I bet tehy are pretty with other bursts of color around.
