CHAPTER XXXV 



BULBS FOR WINTER FLOWERING 



No collection of flowers can be considered com- 

 plete, nowadays, if it does not include a variety of 

 bulbs so treated that they will come into bloom in 

 midwinter when few other plants can be depended on 

 to furnish flowers. 



The amateur florist will have no trouble in flower- 

 ing bulbs in the house if he or she is willing to be 

 guided by certain rules which experience has proved 

 to be good ones — rules which it is imperatively neces- 

 sary to follow in order to insure complete success. 



It must be borne in mind, when we bring a bulb 

 into blossom in winter, that we are reversing the nat- 

 ural order of things, which is, that these plants shall be 

 in a dormant condition at that time. It is an unnatural 

 process, therefore, but in order to secure as great a 

 measure of success as possible, we must follow the 

 methods of Nature so far as we can understand them. 



If we plant a bulb in the garden in September 

 or October, it makes no visible growth of top that 

 season. But if you were to dig it up any time before 

 the closing in of winter, and examine it, you would 

 find that it had begun to make root growth. All 

 throu9-h the winter it goes on making active prepara- 

 tions for spring's work. As soon as the snow melts 

 and the sun shines, it will send up a top, and the 

 vigor of its growth depends largely on the condition 

 in which its roots are. If there has been satisfactory 

 development of them, this growth will be strong and 

 healthy. If there is imperfect development, the growth 

 of the top will be proportionately weak. It is therefore 

 important that bulbs be planted as early as possible. 



