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Monday, November 21, 2011

Planting Paperwhites

Need a teacher gift? Or hostess gift? Paperwhites are the perfect item to give. They are very reasonably priced and take very little time to put together. That's the perfect mix for a gift, in my opinion!

Paperwhites take about 6 weeks to bloom, but the journey from planting to blooming is a fun one to watch.

Supplies:
Paperwhites
Container
Rocks

I got my paperwhites at Lowes for $6.98 for 7 bulbs.  I saw a cute package at Target today.  They were in a little burlap bag for $7.99 for 5 bulbs in the Smith and Hawken section.

Find a fun container (it can be a vase, flower pot without a drainage hole, ball jar or anything you find interesting to plant bulbs).  Next put some rocks into your container. If you don't have any rocks laying around, go outside. I bet you or a friendly neighbor might have some pebbles on a driveway or walkway. Give them a good scrub and into the vase they go!


Place bulbs on top of the rocks. You can put as many or few bulbs in as you'd like. For a nice, full presentation, feel free to make the bulbs nice and cozy next to each other. I probably could have put one or two more in the vase below, but I felt 6 was a nice number to start with.

Fill the vase with some water just so it touches the bottom of the bulbs. If you fill it too full, the bulbs might rot. But keeping it right at the bottom will help them sprout roots. It's a really fun process to watch, if you planted them in a glass container!


If you happen to have a few extra ball jars on hand, there is no added expense for your gift!



Here are the bulbs after just a few days. Can you see the roots starting to sprout?!


Trust me when I say you do NOT need a green thumb to plant these bulbs!  This project is easy!  

Have fun!

Jen

I'm linking up to:

  ThriftyThurs Thrifty Thursday Week 50

The Shabby Nest  Holiday    Photobucket      Photobucket

7 comments:

  1. This is so awesome! I haven't heard of them before, I will have to check them out :) Thanks for linking and no worries on the linking up a few times, I think it was a issue on linky part as I saw lots of "x" . Enjoy your night!
    XO
    Kristin

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  2. A good reminder to start them now. After the tree comes down and I'm ready to clean, it's nice to have something fresh around. I'm gathering jars now. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I really want to try this idea! They're so pretty and love watching them grow! Thanks for linking up today!! :)

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  4. Thank you for posting this! I think I'm going to get bulbs and try this. Pat

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  5. Hi Jen, great post! LOVE paperwhites and I buy at least a 100 each year! I'll be featuring your post on VIF this afternoon. thanks so much for joining in!

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  6. Hi. I just found you...from the NW attracted me. I'm in Sequim. Nice to meet you! I love forcing paperwhites! They smell so divine!
    Ruth

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  7. Oh I love those, they smell incredible!!! Thanks for linking up!

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