I can tell you that it was cold this morning. And foggy. And damp. And it was the only time that I could do my flowers, so I just had to get on with it. 

If I would have had my act together last autumn and I would have actually potted up those hyacinths when I received them in October, I have no doubt that they would have made it into the house a few weeks ago. I could even have put the bulbs in the fridge for a few weeks to force them on a bit. However, I only potted them up in January, so it is a miracle that they are flowering at all.

Indeed, if I would have had my act together, I could even have bought some prepared hyacinth bulbs at a garden centre in September. These are specifically labelled as they have been heat-treated (read cold-treated) and are as such more expensive. In the past I have bought them, potted them up (wearing gloves as they can irritate the skin) and left them in the garage until they had a bit more than an inch growth on them. I then brought them out in the light somewhere still cold a week or so before bringing them indoors. This was in January and they cost half of buying hyacinths in flower. By following this process you can have flowering hyacinths in the house from Christmas onwards, so it is worth doing.

The heat-treatment, as far as I gather, means that they have been put in cold storage for 12-16 weeks after being lifted as early as June. They form flowers in cold storage because they think it is already winter. I may try an experiment myself this year, to see if I can trick some of my hyacinths into waking up early. Apparently the vegetable drawer of the fridge would work. I'll let you know in about 10 months time, if I get my act together that is! 

So, now for this week's bunch. I couldn't just put the hyacinths on the table, could I. So here they are in a fake-moss basket, with some floristry foam (see my ps below) between the three little pots with the hyacinths, some ivy and olive and buddleia twigs. I didn't actually put the ivy in the foam, as it can survive very well without water. Anybody who has ever tried to kill ivy growing up a tree knows that you have to wait at least two months after severing it before it dies - and you better make sure that you take at least ten centimeters out, because just cutting it an leaving it more or less in place is not killing it, but probably only interrupting its growth for a few weeks. Coming back to a flower display, a week in a flower basket without water is hardly going to affect ivy. 

As a finishing touch I added some daphne (Daphne odora Aureomarginata), for fragrance as well as for colour. I considered using some grape hyacinths, but decided that I wanted harmony rather than contrast. 

Ps 1 -  I looked up floristry foam as was wondering what it is made of. Apparently it is made of plastic that isn't biodegradable. Long exposure could also be harmful to you as it is full of toxins. Therefore I am going to use up what I bought (I only bought one block) and then think about alternatives. 

Ps 2 - My bunch of flowers from last week is still standing. I can however tell you that hellebores are messy when they haven't yet formed their flower pods as they keep shedding their stamen. I had to get the vacuum cleaner out a few times. Also some flowers needed an additional two treatments of searing their stems in boiled water for 20 seconds. But every time they lifted up their heads and have lasted for another few days. The euphorbias that I picked originally weren't doing great as well, so I replaced them with some Euphorbia oblongata from my allotment. But the result isn't bad at all. This is the picture that I took this morning.