Our kitchen windowsill has turned into a bit of a green sanctuary lately. I’ve been feeling garden starved; dark evenings and mornings and awful weather during the weekends has mean’t very little pottering outdoors. I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it therapeutic, even if it’s cold. Anyway, after seeing Claudia’s asheville garden update I knew exactly what I needed. Daffodils and house plants!
Daffodils are one of my favourite cut flowers. They’re cheap, colourful and in most cases, British grown. All the shops are selling them for half price at the moment so it’s a double win. I’ve seen quiet a few flowering in parks and gardens already – which shows how unseasonably mild this Winter has been. Last year I posted my first daffodil photos in April.
Family gave us a cutting from a trailing house plant. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will root. Scott bought me a soil moisture sensor kit for my birthday and if this plant grows, I will put it the pot to stop me over watering.
Top of my house plant wish list… hyacinths! They always make me think of Attic 24’s colourful home; every year she posts photos of her daffodil and hyacinth bulbs growing.
These flowers should be a purply blue. Waitrose was selling them for half price so I went back and week later and bought a pink one. The instructions say to plant them outdoors when they die back but I’d quite like to keep them indoors instead. Does anyone do this or is it better to buy fresh every year?
We have a good view of the bird feeder from the kitchen. By mid morning the light hits the window in a way that obscures their view of us. So I can snap away rather than having to creep around curtains or slowly rise up from windowsills with a mammoth camera lens.
This windowsill will hopefully keep me contented for a few more weeks until I can get in the garden properly. I really need to order some seeds! What are you all planning on growing this year? So far I have cosmos, sunflowers and borlotti beans on my list.
Oooh what lovely pictures! Your kitchen windowsill looks fabulous and I love those daffodils. I have some window boxes filled with the little ones and they’re already in full bloom. So early this year!
Re: the hyacinths, the bulbs for sale in the shops for indoor hyacinths are “forced” – they’ve been given a treatment to make them start flowering earlier than they would normally do. If you decide to keep them inside then you’d need to do the same next year to make them flower; basically it just means sticking them in the fridge at the right time, but it is a bit of extra faff! (Google “home forcing hyacinths” and I’m sure you’ll get lots of advice.) but in your house a cold treatment followed by being in a centrally heated area makes them think it’s Spring and they start to bloom. If you plant them in the garden then the cold weather at winter will naturally do it all for you, but the bulbs will flower later in the year at actual Spring time (unless it’s another crazy winter, anyway!)
Thanks Sabrina! Shame the daffs weren’t fully out for these photos. All your info is really helpful; I think I might put them in the garden afterwards. Keeping them cold to long enough sounds like a bit of a gamble. I will look into home forcing hyacinths though just in case there’s a sure fire formula 🙂
I am LOVING your windowsill garden. And ever so slightly envious of your beautiful white sink too. I adore daffodils, a sure fire sign that winter is behind us and spring is in sniffing distance aren’t they?
They definitely are. I got home tonight and the combination of daffodils and hyacinths made the kitchen smell amazing.
Daffodils have actually started to bloom in our garden – I think I may cut some of them before the wind blows them away. I’m a big kitchen windowsill fan but mine is so so so overcrowded with herb plants, pots, mini mugs with my twins baby feet imprints and even a beautiful sealed box with my dog’s ashes! I’m also perplexed by how a small succulent has managed to last 9 months in a small dish of water on this windowsill.
Haha, nature is hardier than we think 🙂 I’m always tempted to cut the daffodils that spring up in the garden, for the house. But I can’t bring myself to take the colour out of the garden. I’m sure our windowsill will get busier…
Love cut daffs, such a quick way to brighten up a windowsill in all this gloomy weather. We’ve had some flowering in a pot by the back door since early January…I’ve never seen them flower so early. Strange weather. #hdygg
I agree and they smell brilliant too. Strange weather indeed, I’d really like a few more chilly Winter days before the season is over…
ah how lovely. I think its important to bring some greenery into the home. It kinda freshens the house up. I’ve started to treat myself to bunches of cheap flowers to sit on my window ledges and in the hall. Brightens the place up no end.
Your windowsill looks lovely ☺
Thanks Jenna. Yes that’s exactly it. I’m planning on buying more daffodils this week, hopefully they are still half price 🙂
This is what I need – colour in the house!
I too bought a load of half price hyacinths from Waitrose recently – they too are about to bloom but disappointingly, no scent at all yet. Hopefully that will come, it’s my fave bit of growing them.
You know the best thing about daffodils don’t you?
Same colour of cheese.
On toast.
NOM!
Thanks for joining in again Baconface x
Oh no! Ours had no real smell until the flowers fully opened. Hopefully it’ll be the same for yours. Love that daffodils = cheese on toast in your mind haha! You nutter!
I failed with the hyacinths, i think i over watered them, will stick them outside, I did buy myself a bunch of them and the smell in the house was gorgeous
Looks great Gemma, I bought some daffs at the shops yesterday. It does seem early, let’s hope we have their cheery faces for longer this year as they’ve started early 🙂
Seeds – me too, I must put in my order or I’ll miss out on a few things that I have to get mail order. Tonight. Tonight I will order seeds!
hooray for daffodils and house plants!!! i currently have a hyacinth on the kitchen counter too. when the daffodils died, i cut them down and put them in a darker corner. the green has grown back like crazy! thanks for the shout out Gemma. xx