Hello Xuan,,

Very beautiful...Thanks for the wonderful pictures!!!

Laura in VB

It's beautiful, Xuan! Look at all those buds and blooms! It sure is a prolific bulb! Thank you for sharing! It's nice to see spring flowers... especially with everything here under snow!

{{gwi:8007}} Hi, Xuan! Your pictures may have pushed me over the top. ;-) I was enjoying the winter vacation away from all the work of the gardens, containers, bonsai ....., but the more pictures I see that remind me of spring, the more antsy and anxious for dirty hands I get. As usual, very lovely.

YAGSA

Very stately and elegant, Xuan!
It reminds me of a bright lemon cream pie!

Is this the flower that only blooms once?

Josh

Bright~Cheery and Elegant!
Says spring for sure. ;-)

Very beautiful Xuan!
Thanks for sharing! Your beautiful plants are always such a treat!

JoJo

Many thanks, friends, for sharing the joy over this "special" plant.

Yes, Josh, these bulbs were "forced" by the growers to only bloom once then "discard after use"...hehehe!

Jodi, I wish I could save the bulbs but it's said that the "water forced" bulbs cannot be salvaged. Sigh! Next year I will try another method: growing the bulbs in wet sand.. and maybe then I can leave them be in the pot for the year after blooming cycle.

Al, how long more before you get back to gardening and getting dirty hands? I'm waiting to see your awesome plants/bonsais again.

Sometimes, I feel it's boring to not have a break in the garden :-(

Xuan

Hippeastrums are sometimes forced in vases with water, and they can be saved. I would think the Narcissus to be no different. It just depends on whether or not you want to save it, or whether you think it's worth it to save the bulb.

I would remove it from the water once it finished blooming, and if there's no rot present and the basal plate is in good shape, I'd carefully place it in soil. It would probably need time to develop new roots, and it would need to recharge. It would probably skip a bloom cycle, but if carefully tended, it could possibly resume its natural cycle the following year.

Most people probably wouldn't think it worth the effort to salvage such a bulb. And the industry selling them wouldn't want you to... they'll want you to buy a new one next season. But I think any bulb in decent condition can be saved... if you want to invest the time and effort.

I think a person CAN save them... most people just wouldn't. If it were my bulb, I'd give it a shot... I hate throwing away anything that can be saved... but that's just me. :-)

Bulbs are the plants strategy to put next years plant in to a storage package we call a bulb. The whole plant is packaged into that bulb and able to survive through a dry summer without water, ready to grow again into a flowering plant when water is again available. When in the growing plant form it will either make seeds to make more plants or make offset bulbs to increase the number of plants, sometimes both. As Jodi says almost all bulbs after flowering can be kept alive to make a new bulb. Plants like all other life have a strong desire to keep the species going into the future. Al

Xuan - I'll be starting bonsai repots in about 1 month, long before I can get into the garden for any serious work. By Jun 1, I'll have the container plantings put together and the garden/bonsai will be looking like something. ;o) It's under about 2' of snow, right now.

I'll try to take lots of pics this year!

Take good care!

YAGSA

Thank you, Jodi and Calistoga. I might try to save the bulbs I'm having since it won't hurt to do so, right?
Will update along the line.

Al, all sound good!

Oh, by the way, the Liquidambar I asked you for advice on cutting off the roots is now re-shooting new leaves and buds. I will soon plant it in the garden.

Feel so happy about that.

Xuan

Oh good! I'm glad it worked out. Does it ever lose it's leaves there?

Al

I don't mean to force you into saving the bulb if you don't want to, Xuan... I'm just saying I think it CAN be salvaged if you want. :-)

I think people who aren't familiar with bulbs will tell you it can't be saved, and certainly the industry wouldn't want you to save it... but even if it's the bulblets that you save, and not the center mother bulb, you could have flowers for the future by caring for the bulb and its surrounding babies.

I notice by the photo that the mother bulb is completely surrounded by bulblets, though they're all wrapped in the outer layers of protective sheathing. You could actually separate a few and plant those in soil, allowing them to grow and eventually bloom. It would be possible for you to have several pots of flowers once they reach maturity.

Bulbs are wondrous plants, in my opinion... I'm fascinated by their cycles and how they grow and bloom! They're like little batteries that require recharging before use! :-)

Hi Al, the liquidambar lost almost all its leaves around the Solar New Year time. It was when we cut off the roots that were running deep into the ground beneath.

This is how the little tree looks now.

{{gwi:8008}}

{{gwi:8009}}

I will re-plant it into the garden once we have rains here.

Look at that green growth! Xuan, you are so lucky! Everything is still sleeping here, under a blanket of snow!

Hi Xuan!

Now that I am finally at a computer that is working well here at work, and feeling much better, I can tell you AWSOME looking plants!

Thank you for showing us these. They remind me of spring Daffodils! I love them

Hope all is well with you our dear friend!

Mike