Paperwhites are a beautiful holiday flower, but in order to have them blooming for Christmas, it’s time to plant them now.
This is a great first time project for new gardeners. Paperwhites don’t require any cooling or conditioning in order for them to bloom indoors, and typically appear is 30-40 days. Another bonus of paperwhites, they are incredibly fragrant.
*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience*
Paperwhites HERE can be planted indoors or outdoors. Winters are cold in my region of the world, so I would love to see these flowers bloom indoors in time for Christmas.
To plant these bulbs indoors, you can use any glass or ceramic bowl. These bulbs require only 3″ of root room so shallow containers work well. You can plant your bulbs in soil, pebbles, tumbled beach glass, sand, or glass marbles.
I am planting my bulbs in a clear glass container with river rocks. The kit I ordered came with a growing medium, a cocopeat disk. This disk helps the growing process of the blooms but is not necessary to use.
I inserted the cocopeat disk into the container and added 1 1/2 cups of warm water.
Amazing! Look how much it expanded after 15 minutes!
I added another 1/4 cup warm water to break down the remaining soil and added decorative river rocks to the mix.
Insert the bulbs into the container, securing them between the rocks.
Add more water to the container, making sure at least 1/4 of the bulb is exposed. Do not soak the bulb in water.
It is important to place the container in a sunny spot and keep at a temperature of 65-70 degrees. Increase watering once the flowering stocks begin to appear. When the flowers begin blooming, take out of direct sunlight to prolong the flowering period.
Most importantly, enjoy your paperwhite blooms!
See you next time and remember to follow along on Instagram HERE and subscribe to the blog to receive posts twice a week delivered to your inbox.
While I absolutely love these, I’ve always had a hard time growing bulbs without them dying.
Interesting. This is my first time growing paperwhites, so not sure how they will turn out, but hoping for the best.
Forcing paperwhites is one of my personal favorite holiday traditions. I find it enormously satisfying that something so simple to do adds such a lovely and classic look to our rooms at this time of year! Great post! Still looking for that magic bulb that grows the shorter versions. 🙂
So glad to hear from you Debbie and that you have success with the paperwhites. Mine have started to sprout and look forward to seeing them in full bloom.
I have never heard of paperwhites flowers that blooms inside at winter season. I am so glad I learned it from you. I cannot wait to see the blooms. Don’t forget to update us. And yes Christmas is round the corner and I am sure we are all thinking of what to do, what will be the decorations, what colour for this year, and so on, the list is so long. bless us women, though husbands are also part of this celebration. Have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Juli, I certainly will update you on the paperwhites, they have started to sprout! Good to hear from you. I started preparing for Christmas a while back, have 2 trees up already 🙂
hahah, you have your trees up already??? oh bless your heart, you are half way through it. And yes, I would love to see the paperwhites, just cannot wait to see them. I wish you good days in all your preparations for Christmas.
Thanks Juli, you too.