Members of our local WI were each given a hyacinth bulb before Christmas to
grow on to bring into flower for our February meeting. The results were
extremely mixed!!! But what do we do with the bulbs when they have finished
flowering.

We have tubs and a small garden at our village hall which the WI look after.
Is there any point in planting the bulbs - i.e. will they flower again next
year?

Jeanne

Pete wrote:
Members of our local WI were each given a hyacinth bulb before Christmas to
grow on to bring into flower for our February meeting. The results were
extremely mixed!!! But what do we do with the bulbs when they have finished
flowering.

We have tubs and a small garden at our village hall which the WI look after.
Is there any point in planting the bulbs - i.e. will they flower again next
year?

It's been a while since I had a healthy looking hyacinth bulb at the end of
flowering, but I /believe/ you should treat it approx like an amarylis,
which iirc:
* cut off the flower and let the green keep growing
* when the green dies off, stop watering the bulb
* when the bulb has dried out enough not to rot, store it in a cool dark
place
* - should be ready to use again next year.

(you need to let the green keep growing to replenish the energy stored in
the bulb that has been taken out by the flower - in theory I guess you
could put the whole planted bulb somewhere cool and dark rather than remove
it from its vase/soil)

On Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:12:53 -0000, "Pete"
wrote:

Members of our local WI were each given a hyacinth bulb before Christmas to
grow on to bring into flower for our February meeting. The results were
extremely mixed!!! But what do we do with the bulbs when they have finished
flowering.

We have tubs and a small garden at our village hall which the WI look after.
Is there any point in planting the bulbs - i.e. will they flower again next
year?

Jeanne

Once the flowers have died, snip the flower head off but leave the
leaves intact as they're needed to replenish the bulbs' food reserves
for next year. I find it's best to get new bulbs if you want to grow
them indoors again so I simply plant the bulbs outside in the ground
and they will flower again next year. I had one "indoor" hyacinth that
I planted out and it flowered for a few years and then got covered
over with about 9 inches of gravel as I created a pathway. That bulb
continued to force its way through the gravel and flower for another 5
years before it gave up.

If you don't want to plant them outside, keep them somewhere cool and
light but out of direct sunlight (if we get any at this time of year!)
until the leaves have died back. Then trim them off, remove the bulbs
from their bowls and put them somewhere to dry off before storing them
somewhere dry.

One reason why hyacinths don't fare so well when grown indoors is that
people grow them in too warm a room. It's best to keep them cool until
they are just about to flower and only then bring them into a warm
room - but the flowers last longer if they are kept on the cool side.

Jake