Paperwhite Narcissus
Paperwhites are beautiful, fragrant, and elegant indoor winter-blooming flowers. They are one of the easiest bulbs to force. We force these bulbs every winter. The Kids and I put together Paperwhite kits for teacher gifts this Christmas. We purchase small tin buckets, polished white rocks, and the bulbs. We gathered twine, ribbon, and faux flowers, and card stock from around the house. I found and downloaded a picture of the stages of growith of a Narcissus bulb and printed it on photo paper to make a card and printed instructions for growing the bulbs on the back. We wrapped the tin bucket of rocks and bulbs with white toile and tied them with a green bow and faux paperwhite flowers and attached the instructions with twine. I sewed bags out of a natural colored material to place the tissue paper wrapped gift inside.
The Instructions:
These bulbs are Paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta). They are easily potted in shallow containers of gravel. Place the bulbs on a gravel layer, and add enough gravel to hold the bulbs in place without covering them.
Add water to the container, just up to the base of the bulb, without touching it. Place the container in a sunny spot, and in a couple of days, you’ll see roots. In one to five weeks, you’ll have beautiful flowers.
Paperwhites grow a very tall (12" or so) stalk at the top of which are clusters of small white flowers. The plants can become top heavy and may tip over, so you may want to stake them.
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