Bring on the Bulblets

Bulblets can bloom this year in window boxes, then go into the garden for future springs. Bulblets make wonderful container displays alone. Though grown to bloom outdoors this season, bulblets can be pot-grown inside on a sunny windowsill. Bulblets make wonderful container displays when combined with other plants.

If you procrastinated last fall when it was time to plant bulbs for a glorious spring display, you probably are looking with envy at the neighbors' beds. The green shoots of narcissus, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are showing through.

Spring bulbs are planted in the fall because they require a long period of cold, insulated in the earth, before they bloom. But, thanks to the clever bulb growers in the Netherlands, you can still produce a beautiful spring display with bulblets--pre-chilled, pre-sprouted bulbs in pots.

The bulblets are also an excellent solution for squirrel-ravaged gardens and for those who wish they had planted more. And, though growing spring bulbs in some areas is no problem, people in certain parts of the south and west who have suffered serious bulb-envy can now have their own enviable spring displays.

Bulblets come with two to three inches of sprouted growth and can be planted in the garden when the chance of frost is past. The bulblets are not as hardy as the fall-planted bulbs, so they will not withstand a cold snap as the hardier bulbs will. Expect to see these "instant" flowering bulbs in supermarkets, home and garden centers and florist shops this spring.

Besides massing them in beds, you can replant them in window boxes. Or you can simply put a good collection of pots in the window box. Either way, you'll have a cheerful display.

You also can plant them, or mass them in pots, in large garden containers. Container planting has been difficult, heretofore, since the bulbs didn't have enough protection. In just two or three weeks, the bulblets will be in bloom.

Sally Ferguson of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., offers these tips for growing bulblets outdoors:

• Buy plants after the last routine extended freezing temperatures are no longer likely.
• Buy potted bulbs when the stems are short and the buds are formed, but not open.
• Acclimate the plants outdoors in a protected but unheated spot for a day or two, before planting them in the garden or in large weatherproof pots.
• When ready to pot, water well and let drain. To remove bulbs from pots, tip the pot and gently remove its contents, being careful not to damage the roots. Plant in well-drained soil in a group or cluster for best display. Water well.
• Should a 24-hour freezing temperature occur, cover nursery-grown bulbs with protective material such as straw or leaves.
• Although the bulblets were developed for outdoor planting, should you wish to use your bulblets indoors, Ferguson suggests:
• Dress up the pot the bulblets come in by repotting in your own container. One with drainage hole and a saucer is best. Just tap out the bulblet from the nursery pot, being careful to avoid root damage, and repot.
• You also can disguise the nursery pot in a pretty cache pot.
• Water to keep the soil moist but not soggy. "The best technique is to put the pot in the sink, water well so water pools inside the pot rim, then let the water drain out the pot bottom," Ferguson said.

  Photographs courtesy of Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center