By Pammie
Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
My Grandaughter bought me this basket at Christmas of 4 Hyacinths . Planted in compost with a covering of dried moss . They started growing great for a few weeks but Now. seem to have started to die . Such a shame ,What have I possibly have done wrong . Too dry / to wet / or does it all actually need to be in a full light position? It’s in our lounge on the tiled hearth . The fires Not on so no heat near it
- 26 Jan, 2025
Answers
As Hywel says, hyacinths only have short flowering time and that is now over for this year.
Plant them out in the garden where they will build the flowers for next year, and you will get to remember your Granddaughters present come 2026
They will flower later in 2026 than this year, more into Springtime, not for Christmas
27 Jan, 2025
as said, 'forced' hyacinths rarely last long and I find unless in a very cool room never open fully. And if they do they flop as the heads are just too heavy for the shallow bowls they are planted in.
plant them out in Feb and if there is still green foliage give them a feed . They will probably flower next year but with fewer flowers [though you may just get leaves]. The following year there will be more flowers per stem.
I actually prefer them less congested.
27 Jan, 2025
Thanks for all you comments About my Hyacinths , I was going to plant in the garden after they’d flowered as have done previous bulbs . I know they’ll flower better in the garden & place them in a good place with others
27 Jan, 2025
as long as the ground isn't water logged or frozen they will be fine.
27 Jan, 2025
A living room or lounge is not a good place for spring bulbs, even if there's no heat near the bulbs the surrounding air would be too warm and dry.
Hyacinths don't last long anyway in my experience so it may be their natural growth cycle. The leaves look all right so you could plant them in the garden and look forward to seeing them again next spring.
27 Jan, 2025