Paperwhites

I admit that paperwhites are my favorite bulbs to grow, because the flowers stay in bloom for at least 3 weeks here in Qatar. I planted those indoor and they tend to get very high, and when I planted those outdoors they grew just fine and not so tall.

I purchased once paperwhites from Home Depot in Houston and the bulb size was small. Later I found on the web Easy To Grow Bulbs who have all different kinds of paperwhites. Those bulbs were so big they produce 2 to 3 stems filled with flowers.

So I received my order from easytogrowbulbs and I planted all of them outdoors except for these 4. I'm experimenting with different decorating styles for growing bulbs indoors. So I had those cubic glass vases and all I needed was Spanish Moss, Gravel Rocks and some potting soil.

I only added a little of potting soil just to make sure that the vase stays wet.

Marigold Border

Amaryllis

Pink Amaryllis in bloom.

Potted Bulbs

I bought these potted Narcisses and Hyacinth over the weekend. They start blooming the following day. It's really great for them to bloom now because the weather outside is very cool and this should make the flowers last longer.

Double Hibiscus

Bougainvillea

When I potted this bouainvillea bush it died out. I probably didn't handle the roots very well... I left it there for about 2 months and new growth started to show... This is how it looks now.

Bougainvillea

I think I have around 14 different bougainvillea types and colors around my garden, in pots and in the ground. This type blooms all over. I like to look at it! next to it there is a small bougainvillea tree (chinese import) and it has 5 different colors in one trunk (yellow, orange, pink, red and purple). It's starting to bloom. I will post the pictures once it looks its best.

Dwarf Blue Lobelia

By far those are the most successful flowers I grew from seeds last year. I started in August and they bloomed around November and still blooming!

Sunflowers: Velvet Queen

Yesterday the velvet queen sunflowers bloomed. I tried to grow those on a big size pot expecting a big flower. The flower size was medium. I believe if this went right to the ground then It would have bigger blooms.



The seeds approximately 7 days old. The flower opened 2 months later.

Hyacinth

In November I grew these forced hyacinth for the first time. Definately my favorite bulb to plant indoors. Currently I'm planting Hyacinth Multiflora, with a big bulb surrounded by baby bulbs, the multiflora type have more flower stems but the flowers are not so close together.

Potted Hyacinth Designs

Growing Hyacinth indoor is a great pleasure. I'm a newbie to gardening and plants, so I got my first ones forced and ready to bloom indoors. Probably next year I'll get unforced bulbs and try to plant them indoors and out. The scent of those hyacinths can fill up the room.

If planted outdoors: Any garden soil well do, thrives best in sun or light shade.

If planed indoors: Plant in a cool, dark place and bring into the lights when shoots emerge. Keep cool untill they flower. Light should be bright/indirect.

Here is a few designs of potting Hyacinths courtesy of Hyacinthus.nl:

Sunflowers

It took 2 weeks for those sunflowers to reach 5 inches, and 6-7 weeks to continously flower. The temperature here in Qatar reaches 48C during June-July and very humid in August. I started those seeds on August and it seemed to be doing fine under those conditions. I usually start growing the seeds in small plastic pots and when it reached 4 inches or so I relocate them to the ground. At this point they grow really fast and tall. If you leave them in the small pot for awhile they will grow but will produce really small flowers.

This is one of my favorite because it's easy to grow and It's a show by itself! I'm growing (Velvet Queen),(White Cream) and (Ring of fire) variety at the moment.