Get a jumpstart on spring with colourful flowers

Having been chased indoors by the icy weather, thumb your nose at winter by filling the family’s favourite room, patio, or kitchen window sill with fragrant indoor spring bulbs.

What is it about daffodils, hyacinth and tulips that intoxicate our senses and make us feel more alive?

Colour therapists tell us that through colour, nature gives us one of our most powerful tools for health, wellbeing, and joy. Bulbs demand to be seen. There is nothing subtle about them; they are bold and gorgeous, a vivid contrast to the dry sepia of winter.

“Colour,” says therapist Bonney Whittington, “captures us and throws us into the dance of beauty happening all around us on this planet.”

Writing in the Encyclopaedia of Alternative Health and Natural Remedies (Carlton Books), she explains that each colour has its own vibration. When we are drawn to a colour, our vibrations interact and resonate with it, restoring balance where there is a lack.

Who can deny that upward beat of optimism from a bunch of bright yellow daffodils? By decorating our living space with bulbs, we can consciously bring this energy into our daily lives.

The second “therapeutic” aspect of bulbs is their fragrance. A single hyacinth will permeate a living space with a delicate fragrance that can never be replicated by the myriad of artificial air fresheners.

Fragrance also works powerfully on our emotions, opening us up to feelings of delight, sorely needed in this time of Covid-19.

It is no coincidence that practitioners of Feng Shui believe that daffodils and other bulbs bring good fortune and that the flowers represent hidden gold – not in the material sense but in the blossoming of hidden talents and ability.

If winter is starting to feel long, start planting your own personal spring – and with it your hopes and dreams for a new season.

Growing tips

Place indoor potted daffodils near a window so the plants receive bright, but filtered, light. Direct sunlight can burn the foliage and make the blooms to fade more quickly. For a long blooming period maintain the room temperature between 10°C and 21°C.

Check the soil in the pot once or twice a week. Water the daffodils when the top inch of soil begins to feel dry. Empty the tray beneath the pot 30 minutes later.

If you want to transplant the bulbs into the garden snip off the faded daffodil flowers. Leave the remainder of the stems on the plant because they continue to collect energy and nutrients for the bulb.

Potted hyacinths also like indirect light, but not wet soil.

Each potplant has a number of flower spikes that will remain attractive for weeks if the plant is kept in a cool but well-lit room.

Remove flower spikes that are over. Once the plant has finished flowering, keep it in a cool room with moist soil and plant it out in spring, for flowering the following spring.

For more information visit www.plantimex.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.