Thursday, December 15, 2011

Paperwhite Bulbs for Holiday Gifts

I love to give paperwhite bulbs as Christmas gifts.  It's so nice having spring flowers blooming in the dead of winter.  I wrap them up in some cute packaging and print the instructions for forcing them on some fun paper.  Sometimes I include a nice decorative bowl or jar to force them in.  They make wonderful gifts for friends, neighbors, teachers, or co-workers.

Paperwhite narcissus are the easiest to grow in water.  Fill your container with a few inches of glass globes or pebbles and add water until it is just below the top of the pebbles.  Nestle the bulbs down in the pebbles or globes so their roots or the base of the bulbs touch the water. Let them sit in the water just long enough to "wake up" the roots.  Once the roots begin to grow, they will reach into the water.  At this point, keep the water at a level so that it reaches the roots only.  This will keep the bulbs from rotting.  You should have blooms in a couple of weeks.

 Here we used paper shred (we carry several colors) and a window bag to wrap up the bulbs.  We added some silk ribbon and one of the vintage ornaments from Melissa Frances to dress it up.

 Again, we used some paper shred to stuff one of the the kraft boxes and added the bulbs.  We tied this one with some natural twine and added a tag from the Melissa Frances Christmas collection.

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