Gardeners from the past knew that getting bulbs to bloom earlier was the simplest method to get blooming flowers throughout winter. Here’s how they did it.

Every winter, Page Dickey coaxes unusual grape hyacinths like White Magic to bloom early. These are not the basic blue Muscari, but “ones you wouldn’t see for sale in the supermarket,” she said.Credit…Page Dickey

Prior to Page Dickey and Francis Bosco Schell had a brief stay in their home in northwestern Connecticut clay pots filled with flowers sat there, laying roots in their own space. own.

The species of tulips, miniature daffodils, and dwarf irises which would decorate the dining table during winter and into early spring following the couple’s renovation of a year was completed and the moving-in day had come and gone and all were present and in good condition.

Madame. Dickey, a garden designer and writer who was a creator of the Garden Conservancy Open Days program and the late Mr. Schell, a retired book editor and a lifelong gardener, realized that there wouldn’t be a display of flowers from the garden during the driest months if the bulbs did not receive the needed chill. This meant they needed to start around the month of October, they would be able to start to root and get ready. With this in mind, they’d put the urgent task of building, at minimum, an additional cold frame (Ms. Dickey’s favorite bulb-forcing location) on their priorities list.

The custom of growing blooms that were grown in the garden all year long was a dream she was not ready to abandon or break, regardless of the limitations of her Northeastern region. The forced bulbs are one of the toughest spots on the calendar, as the garden might not be anything more than a squishy willow branch.

Mrs. Dickey and her husband, Francis Bosco Schell, have moved into an old 1793 Methodist meeting place located in Connecticut the year 2015.Credit…Ngoc Minh Ngo

So, in that late summer of 2015, Ms. Dickey scanned the bulb catalogs for the fine print, as she had every year for decades. She is doing that again right now, carefully noting any varieties whose descriptions hint at their adaptability to forcing — or being coaxed into extra-early bloom.

“I read the catalogs like you’d read a cookbook,” she explained, “marking the ones to try.”

There are some bulbs she purchases every year, such as species Crocus and the glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa) Hyacinths, as well as other grape hyacinths that are unique, also — not just the standard blue Muscari however, nevertheless “ones you wouldn’t see for sale in the supermarket,” she explained.

The dependable Narcissus Minnow, as Ms. Dickey said, is “so beautiful in pots.”Credit…Page Dickey

She’ll never be without reliable Narcissus such as Minnow or Hawera which are “so pretty in pots” and some kinds of cyclamineus Narcissus such as February Gold and Jack Snipe with their distinct flared-back flowers. It’s unlikely that she will forget the Siberian Squill (white-flowered Scilla siberica Alba is very attractive) or the striped the squill (Puschkinia libanotica) also.

In October, while they were still a few months away from taking over the old 1793 Methodist meeting house that they now call Church House, she planted the decorative clay pots with bulbs and put them in to sleep for the winter.

N. romieuxii, another miniature Narcissus, is among her choices for forcing.Credit…Page Dickey

Emulating the Seasons

For many gardeners today, the idea of forcing bulbs might appear outdated — the subject of late-winter floral displays in conservatories for botanical gardens or even century-old English garden guides that were published in the past when everyone was aware of this method.

Although it isn’t difficult, it’s much easier to flower an Amaryllis flower, hyacinth, or a white Narcissus bulb that’s been stored for cold storage from the seller. Mrs. Dickey uses these, as well, to deliver flowers during the most difficult months that is December and January.