When and How to Plant Flower Bulbs After Forcing

18.12.2023 - 18:47 / gardenerspath.com / Lorna Kring

When and How to Plant Flower Bulbs After Forcing

Forcing spring and summer bulbs to bloom indoors is a brilliant way to add color and fragrance to the winter homescape – and most forced varieties can be planted out in the garden after they’ve finished blooming inside.

Once they’ve been forced, they generally can’t be reused for indoor blooms again, with a few exceptions like properly cared for amaryllis.

But many can transition successfully into the garden and will produce outdoor blooms again in just a year or two, depending on the type.

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After they’ve finished blooming, the bulbs need to replenish their energy through photosynthesis – the capture and conversion of sunlight into energy via their foliage.

This means that after-flowering care is an important step to refuel and recharge energy stores.

Unfortunately, tulip cultivars usually don’t do well after forcing, although limited success might be found with species or wild varieties.

Those forced in water will need to be tossed once they’re finished. Without a growing medium, they’ve exhausted their energy reserves and won’t recover sufficiently for good floral displays – compost or discard these once the blooms are spent.

Plants like amaryllis, crocuses, daffodils, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, lilies, snowdrops, and many others are easily rejuvenated and revert back to their normal blooming cycles with a bit of care.

Are you ready to rescue some forced plants for the garden? Then let’s dig into how to plant flower bulbs after forcing!

Here’s what’s up ahead:

Most of the bulbs forced for indoor blooms are spring- or summer-flowering