Planting Bulbs, Rooting Children

Ready for planting.

Last fall with the best of intentions I bought Daffodil bulbs to plant in our yard – but I didn’t and ended up storing them in our garage all winter. The other day as I looked at the calendar and gasped at how quickly Easter would arrive, so many easter eggs to decorate, and decided we could plant those bulbs inside.

We’ve always had Amaryllis flowers at Christmas holidays so this is a new adventure for us. Amaryllis and Paperwhites do not require a cold dormancy period unlike tulips, daffodils, or hyacinth. I am hoping that our garage stayed cold enough for these daffodil bulbs to flower for us now. I expect that my children will look forward to the first green shoots emerging as much as I will. If you have a little gardener, they would love this simple project to bring some green shoots inside.

All we need for this project is a wide flower pot to nestle the bulbs in closely, some potting soil and a sunny windowsill to get them growing. The bulbs might not flower, and if they don’t I’ll plant them this spring and ignore them until they surprise me with blooms in their own good time.

Last fall we collected so many maple seeds, known as samaras – they are perfect for incorporating into process art as they look fragile but are quite sturdy. We made this three-part wall hanging of a caterpillar, chrysalis and finally a butterfly. Like most parents I completely accept that butterflies don’t emerge until they are ready, and that chicks don’t fledge until they are ready – and then completely ignore that reality for myself and my children.

As mamas we know that a pregnancy takes 9 months and that you can’t rush any part of it. Outside of Saskatoon we see farmer’s field lie fallow and we know that a period of rest was necessary. Yet here we are, and I’m going to try and force these bulbs to flower before they might want to – and share their cheerful glory with us.

Room to grow.