how to grow paperwhites

Paperwhites have long been a staple of our winters adding a bit of life and brightness in the darkest time of the year. Given as gifts, or planted for ourselves, paperwhites or narcissus have a soft fragrance, are impossibly delicate and very easy to grow. And since they take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to blossom once planted, now is the time to start them.
To grow paperwhites or narcissus, Apartment Therapy recommends to use between 3 and 5 bulbs in a small waterproof containeranywhere between 3 and 5 inches deep. Fill up the pot/bowl/container halfway with small pebbles/rocks/marbles and then place your paperwhite bulbs root down on top of the pebbles and start filling in the rest of the pebbles leaving about a third of the bulb exposed at the top. Fill your container with water just so the very bottoms of the bulbs are wet (not soaked though, if they're in too much water, they'll rot). Now you're good to go and should see some sprouts in about a week. Monitor the water level and add it when necessary over the next couple of weeks. Paperwhites will end up growing anywhere from a foot high to over 2 feet and can sometime fall over from their own weight.

Labels: