Forceable Bulbs...

Hello everyone, new to the forum... I am getting married in March and had the bright idea that it would be nice to force some bulbs for centerpieces and the like... well, I don't know which bulbs are the easiest to force and control blooming... any advice? any book ideas that cover this topic? I'll take anything you can throw at me... thanks guys :)
Brittany

Most all single early tulips, early double tulips, and many triumph tulips are forceable. A few favorites are Flair, General de Wet, and Mickey Mouse (early single); Monsella and Yellow Baby (double early); Princess Irene (Triumph).

Likewise in daffodils, those that bloom early in season are often forceable. Of the trumpet daffodils, I've had good results with
Topolino and Little Gem; of the large cups, Ice Follies; of the doubles, Erlicheer and Bridal Crown (apropos to wedding); Segovia is the only small cup. Of the 5th grouping, the Triandrus, Ice Wings, Petrel & Hawera have worked; in the 6th division Cyclamineus, most all will force, Kaydee, Feb. Gold, Jack Snipe, & Jetfire have been my favorites. I've not tried to force any of the Jonquilla division... 9th, 11th, & 13th ditto. In the 8th division, Falconet has been excellent. I've only had limited success with the Bulbocodium div. 10 (Hoop Petticoat). Finally, Tete-a-Tete in the 12th division is a super forcer.

Hyacinthus, crocus, Iris dwarfs (reticulata), Ipheion, Muscari, Leucojum, Puschkinia, some Scillas, and some Ornithogalum (Dubium) all have forcers.

I use an old refrigerator in the basement to force at least 30 pots a year in.

"Bulbs for Indoors", published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a good introductory resource.

Many of the forementioned forced bulbs can be viewed in my garden diary. You can find it at- http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/567676/
(do the next hyperlink)
There's 2 sections on forcing.

Brittany, what a lovely idea! I worked for 20 years as a floral designer and weddings and special events were always some of my favorite things to do. I've always thought forced spring flowers are perfect for decorating spring weddings. What are your colors?

The above suggestions are all excellent. If there are any hyacinth varieties that work with your color scheme, they're a nice height for centerpieces. And I've always thought bringing a nice fragrance to the event is a wonderful idea. I've read that the sense of smell brings back memories more than any other sense, so I like the idea of using flowers (scents) that make people recall their wedding day.

Pots of forced bulbs are also great for decorating the church or ceremony area. To get the most bang for your buck, I often suggest to have friends assigned to retrieve some of the ceremony flowers just after the service and set them in pre-assigned spaces at the reception. Then having all those bulbs for your garden afterword is a big plus too!

Hi, frangipani--

Before you get too far along with your idea, please have a look at this article with tips about forcing bulbs for wedding parties such as yours.

http://www.dutchbulbs.com/bulblady/april2001/weddingbulbs.htm

I am not sure VonBourgondien's is the best choice for purchasing bulbs (see the garden watchdog) but I think the article is worth a careful look. t.

tabasco brings up some good points with that article. Planning a wedding is stressful for the most level headed bride, so this could be adding more to your plate than you'll want to worry about when the time comes. In the flower shop we could cheat a bit to get blooms when we wanted, by either storing the budded plants in the cooler until a day or 2 before we wanted blooms, or by storing the fully bloomed plants in the cooler till they were needed. Without the ability to control the temps like this, timing could be quite tricky. Another scary possibility is misslabling. Even the best bulb sources sometimes send the wrong variety, and this could really mess up your color scheme too late to do anything about it. You may want to consider ordering pots of forced bulbs from a florist or greenhouse for the day. If you're getting a quantity and the shop does'nt have to fluff them up (foil, baskets, or bows), they may give you a discount. Lowes, Walmart, and grocery stores often have good prices on forced bulbs at that time of year, but that's a gamble since they usually don't know what they'll be getting.

Thanks guys, the article is great... I know it could add more stress, but I think it's worth a try... I'll have other flowers as well that can be dispersed if need be... thanks again for all of your wonderful info... I thought it would be a nice idea to have a wedding garden with the bulbs afterwards...
Brittany

Last year I forced a hyacinth in water. You can get very pretty hyacinth bulb glasses to hold them. I just used a vase I had.

Sue

I think that it would be difficult to get hyacinths to bloom in unison, even if using identical bulbs. If you want to incorporate flowers or bulbs, you might consider a bulb and forcing jar as a guest favor.

I think that paperwhites in soil would be easier to time than hyacinths if you are determined to force centerpieces. While hyacinths on vases are wonderful and fragrant, they topple very easily and there's very little you can do to balance them in a way that would be presentable as a wedding centerpiece. You should also be wary of the fact that bulbs forced in residential situations are prone to fungas gnats. You definitely don't want those at your ceremony, so you'd need to use a pesticide. At that point, I think it becomes too labor intensive, and you might as well buy professionally forced bulbs to avoid all of these problems.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 1:40 PM

alright, thanks guys.... slightly discouraged, but more realistic in my thinking now... :)
Brittany

Doesn't mean you still can't force some just for fun - I had 3 dozen daffs in my home last spring, and it was still a delight. Maybe you could have some professionally done, but also see if you can get lucky and have a few special pots of bulbs that you did yourself. Maybe for your table, or some special people like granparents. Seems like though you might not be able to "do it all yourself", you might be able to do something. Congrats and good luck!

Andidandi makes several good points about the difficulty of transporting hyacinths in water and the fact that they can topple easily. I think the idea of having them as a wedding favor is a great idea. You can chill the hyacinth bulbs for the required amount of time which is 8 to 10 weeks, have instructions for people nicely printed up and wrap the glass nicely as a favor. I've seen the hyacinth forcing glasses for as little as $4 each. It would be a unique wedding favor.

Anything you do I would consider as 'extra's and have a professional responsible for each table centerpiece. You really don't want the stress if it doesn't work out perfectly.

Your wedding is in March.......You will not be able to get Hyacinth bulbs at that time, nor can you save them from the Fall until this time..........in my honest opinion.

I was already thinking of using bulbs as favors... keep with the spring feel of things :)
Brittany

You could try some Amaryllis if you want centerpieces. You could buy enough to pot up a group and use the ones that come out well. They would probably be on sale by then. If you want to risk an experiment, I would go with Amaryllis, because you can get many affordable bulbs in bulk, and they are a very showy bloom.

Also, you mentioned making a wedding garden from the bulbs. Forced bulbs do not perform well in later seasons. I put my forced bulbs in the garden and they rarely bloom, even though they do send up greenery. However, Amaryllis could be kept as houseplants for years and be placed in the garden if you are in a warm zone. If you bought and used even a couple of Amaryllis in your wedding, you could keep them for years and they would give you little offset plants that could have personal meaning for you.

Looking back at your post -- I see that you are in Arizona. I would go with Amaryllis. Those should give you a nice garden in future years since they don't require a cold period, unlike most forced bulbs. I think it's worth a try even if you don't use them as your main centerpiece. Your wedding garden plan could be based on this plant, and it would work with your March wedding date.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 1:50 PM

I would use Caladiums....you can start them early in January and they are "always" right on time, since they do not have a specific flowering date. It is colorful and use a variety like Miss Muffett.

I hadn't even thought of Caladiums... I was only thinking of flowers... hmm... interesting, I love caladiums...
Brittany