Winter Cheer: Now This is How to Grow Paperwhites!

Christmas a year ago, a friend gave me some paperwhite bulbs. After looking around on the web for growing instructions, I planted them in a pot with water and seashells for stability instead of dirt. They grew fabulously tall and heavy. When the whole shebang fell over, I discovered that the results were almost alien. Here are some pics from last year's post:

Now, I disremember where I found the instructions to force these bulb in water with stones (or shells, in my case). And it worked out fine in a fourth grade science experiment sort of way. But, really. What was I thinking?

This year, I found a $2.50 (marked down) package of bulbs, a soil disk, and a plastic pot at--you guessed it--the mothership (you know, because I'm always at Wal-Mart for my other blog project).

Wow! A coir/soil disk. What a concept. Flowers grown in dirt. This is much more my speed. I bought an amaryllis, too.

Right after I took this picture, I roped these bad boys in with some twine. The festive Italian pot already has a crack in it from sitting in the cold garage for too long and I don't need another disaster. Can't believe Miss Nina Garcia hasn't already knocked it over.

Here's the amaryllis. Wish I'd bought several. 

Can't believe that January is over already. Spring can't be far behind.