How best to save hyacinth bulbs after flowering

MOnica, I have had 2 amaryllis which have come up year after year for at least 5 years. I have them on my kitchen window sill, I let them die down, then keep watering the seemingly dead bulb on and off and suddenly, hey presto, it grows new leaves and then flowers again. One of the bulbs I discovered on somebody else's compost heap, and I rescued it and still have it. A lot of people think they are one time flowerers, but they are mistaken. Like MOnica and the Gardeners Question time people ,who should know better. Best of luck and it costs nothing to try, does it?

I like the fragrance but hate the fact that they bend and need small stakes.
A pot of hyacinths I bought some weeks ago in M&S, did just that.
I bound the stalks with a length of narrow ribbon jyst under the petals but the heavy tops still toppled over.

Usually, it is not warm enough to plant anything when my hyacinths and other flowers from bulbs stop flowering, so I take them out of the pot and store them in a dry cool place until it is mild enough to plant them outside.

GabriellaG54 - chopsticks are good for supporting floppy hyacinths

Then I always plant mine directly in the garden after flowering

Lisagran
Thanks.
Do you put them up (inside) the stalk? I can't see any chopsticks in the photo but the hyacinths look pretty.
Mine were already planted in a cardboard pot and grew quite tall then flopped. Next time I think I'll put wire up the stems.

GabriellaG54 - no I just sort of prop the hyacinths up with the chopsticks (or garden twigs), maybe tying with a bit of string if needed.

What you need to remember with bulbs is that the plant has to build up it's strength to make a flower the next year.
After flowering the Amaryllis sends up leaves. They convert sunlight through their leaves into food. I also feed dilute fertiliser. Do NOT tie leaves into knots (this applies to all bulbs including daffodils). Come the Autumn stop watering, allow the leaves to die back and leave bone dry for six weeks or so. Trim off the dead leaves, and two thirds of the roots, pot up in fresh compost and water sparingly. You will have beautiful flowers again in the spring.
It is very important with amaryllis to keep the neck of the bulb dry and standing proud of the soil. Overwatering kills.

Hyacinths need the same treatment as Amaryllis except they don't need to be dried out and will be happiest in a sunny spot in the garden. After removing the flower stem ensure the leaves get lots of sunshine to build up the bulb and fertilise them.
If the flowering stems get too lanky indoors that is caused by insufficient light and cannot be remedied. Insert sticks round the edge of the plant pot and use an elastic band or string to keep the heads upright. Next year use new bulbs and keep them on a south facing window ledge.

Begonias and dahlias are only lifted every winter because of our cold wet climate. When I lived in New Zealand I didn't have to lift them at all.
If you are lucky enough to live on sandy soil in a warm part of this country you could try leaving some in the soil.

I have experimented this year with coffee grounds to deter the squirrels from digging up my new bulbs. Won't know if it has worked until the flowers either appear or not.
Many coffee shops are happy to let you have their used grounds and it is a useful addition to the soil when sprinkled on the surface about 1cm deep

Lots of interesting info, Esspee, thanks. I thought I read somewhere that using coffee grounds on the garden was not now considered a good idea?

Lisagran
Ground coffee is acidic but used coffee grounds are near to neutral and act as a slow release fertiliser. I am experimenting to see if squirrels dislike the smell or perhaps it simply masks the delicious smell of bulbs. Last year they munched through all the crocus I planted and quite a few of my pots of bulbs. So far so good this year ?.

I think I must be lucky as both my amaryllis just remain in the original pots and even when they die back I still give them a little water occasionally, and they always respond by giving me flowers year after year. I may give them a bit of babybio once or twice as the leaves are starting up, which the yare now. They are the most unfussy plants I know. I have them on a windowsill in my kitchen which gets a lot of sunlight. They are South African I think. I haven't even changed the soil.

Most of the bulbs have been given to me in pots.

I have been re- planting mine in the garden and they are doing well. These are Hyacinth and small crocus, the stripy blue ones.
They have all done better in a year in the garden than the pots. I am really impressed for once.

If you can grow them you are in league with the devil.
Same with parsley and several other plants you cannot grow.
It's a devils job.

or become a better gardener.
You do have to know what sort of soil your plants are in

I was thinking that too Nelly as I don’t have much luck with planted out hyacinths or parsley.

Antone else simply hate the smell of them . I would not have them in my house or garden . The only bulbs which really like to be lifted and dried out are tulips.

Blimey nellie they are growing all over my garden! My parsley’s doing pretty well too! Just confirms what my DH has been thinking all along!?

Mine are just in the garden and left there they come up in the Spring each year, they are in flower now and look wonderful.