How to Grow a Paper White Narcissus
Paper white narcissus includes hundreds of cultivars that bear single or double pure white flowers. Narcissus grows from a bulb and produces fragrant flowers that may be forced to appear at any time of the year. A relative of the daffodil, paper white narcissus bears its flowers singly or in clusters. Bulbs will grow in a container filled with moist gravel or potting soil, or in the garden. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Shallow container
- Gravel
- Sterile potting mix
- Water-soluble fertilizer
- Shovel
- Rake
- Bulb "booster" or bulb food
- Hand trowel or spoon
Instructions
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Paper White Narcissus Indoors
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Choose a container that's 3 to 4 inches deep and wide enough for the number of bulbs you are planting. Select a container color that complements or contrasts with the plant's stark green and white color scheme. Clear containers also work well to show off the plants.
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Fill the container about three-quarters full with potting mix or gravel. The potting mix must be sterile and have good drainage, with a pH level of 6 to 7. Use pea gravel or slightly larger pebbles.
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Set the bulbs, root side down, on top of the gravel or potting mix, with the top of the bulbs even with or slightly above the rim of the container. Add just enough gravel or potting mix to the container to hold the bulbs in place.
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Water thoroughly, and keep the container moist. Keep the water level in gravel-filled containers just touching the root plate of the bulbs.
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Place the container in a south-facing window until the plant blooms, then move the container to a cooler spot to prolong flowering.
Paper White Narcissus in the Garden
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Find a sunny spot in the garden, and use a shovel to loosen the soil in the planting bed. Dig up and discard weeds and other unwanted vegetation. Use the shovel to mix organic matter such as peat moss, compost or well-rotted manure into the soil to improve flowering.
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Add bulb food or booster at the rate of two to four pounds per 100 square feet of planting bed, and mix it into the soil thoroughly. Rake the planting bed smooth and water deeply.
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Use a hand trowel to dig individual planting holes three to seven inches apart, depending upon the size of the narcissus bulbs. Make the holes about 6 inches deep, or twice as deep as the diameter of the bulb at its widest point. Place one paper white narcissus bulb into each hole, root side down, and cover the bulbs with the excavated soil. Paper white narcissus is best planted in the fall.
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Tips & Warnings
Place the container-grown narcissus in a bright, sunlit spot when it finishes blooming, and apply a water-soluble fertilizer to maintain the plant for a possible second bloom. If the plant dies back, store the bulb in a cool place and repot it in the fall.
Paper white narcissus bulbs cannot survive a hard freeze. They grow best outdoors in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 8 to 10.
References
Resources
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