Saving bulbs of Hyacinth

Here is a video on how i saved Hyacinth bulbs that flowered in December this year.


 

 Apparently most of the leaves have dried up, so it is the right time for me to store these Hyacinth bulbs. The process is very easy, the only difficulty i faced was holding the camera on one hand while working on hyacinth bulbs with the other. I emptied the pot content on to the news paper and to my surprise i found eight bulblets attached to the main bulb. This was different from my last experience in two ways. Last time i only got one bulb but that was equal to the size of bulb that i bought. This year the bulb is too small but their are so many bulblets. May be i do not have any flowers coming year but year after that i might have eight hyacinth.

I left these Bulbs on a newspaper for a day to let it dry and shifted it to a shoe box and stored in a cool dry place

Zinnia Megallon

Zinnias are summer flowering annuals and are very heat tolerant. Zinnia Megallons are short cultivars with large blooms. They have approximate height and width of 1 foot.

April 4th, 2016

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I sow Zinnia Megallon in three colors named as Rose, Scarlet and Orange in 10 cups each. Sprouts appeared on fourth day with germination rate of 100 percent for scarlet 90 percent for orange and 60 percent for Rose. these sprouts as visible in pictures are now 2 days old.

Zinnias are sensitive to root disturbance, therefore they have to be transplanted with care, Planting zinnias in cups give you the advantage of minimum transplant shock, therefore this method is recommended. If they are transplanted from paneeri pot then extra care should be taken not damage their roots. Also the best time for transplanting is evening and water thoroughly.

Experience With Ranunculus

Ranunculus are one of my favorite flowering annuals. Their average height is one 12 inches and grown equally sideways. plant is bushy with dark green foliage. They are propagated from corms as well as seeds.

Last year was my first experience with ranunculus but i loved these amazing flowers. they flowered in reds, purples, yellows and whites. But i planted them behind godetia which overshadowed these little beatuies. This time i decided to give a full flowerbed to it. This flowerbed is in a square shape with dimensions of 6 x 6 feet. The details of growing them this year will be shared in another post.

Here are some clicks from spring 2015. These were bought from nursery as seedlings. Planted them 1 feet apart and they turned into these beauties. In my opinion they should be planted either in pots or raised beds. By doing so these plants get protection from rain plus they are not left hidden or overshadowed by other nearby plants.

 

Anemone Coronaria

Anemone is a cousin of Ranunculus as both these beautiful flowers belong to the family ranunculaceae. Both have similar leaf structures and flower blooms on long stems.They have tuberous roots that can be saved for next year flowering. Their flowers are beautiful and eye catching.

My experience with sowing anemone was very bad. I bought 8 tubers of 2 of each colors. only three of them sprouted. Mistake was mine because i was careless in sowing them. I soaked them for few hours and then planted them directly in flowerbed in October. by doing so i committed two mistakes

Mistake number 1: It was too early for them to sow, they should have been planted in November.

Mistake number 2: I should have planted them in sand first and after the tubers produced roots i should have shifted them to flowerbed. more about this technique can be learned from brother Khabbab from his page http://www.lahoregardening.com/2009/12/growing-flowering-bulbs-in-warm-climates-anemone.html?189db0

I also learned that they gives their best display in pots planted all togather rather than is flowerbeds and that too spaced apart. All these 8 tubers should have been planted in a single pot of 10 inches diameter.

Anyhow they have  wonderful flowers and especially the red ones looks amazing. for me they have sprouted in three colors, red, white and purple.



Initially they look a bit greenish but when in full bloom the turn to their full white color



This is blue anemone also looks amazing but this particular flower was smaller then the rest of the varieties. hope other blooms are much bigger.


Red is my favorite among them. It develops a white center as the flower ages which looks amazing. Will share more pictures as flowers are continuing to bloom.

I will also try to find average number of flowers per anemone plants. some said it produced 8 to 10 flowers per plant but i have not experienced it so fingers crossed