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Amaryllis & Paperwhites

November 10th, 2021

Start your Amaryllis and Paperwhite bulbs now for beautiful Christmas blooms! Both plants offer stunning flowering blooms, adding colour and Holiday cheer during the long winter months that are quickly approaching. Keep reading for information on how to best grow Amaryllis and Paperwhites from bulbs at this time of year.

Paperwhites

Paperwhite Ziva

Paperwhites are a type of easy-to-grow Daffodil (also known as Narcissus). Paperwhites grow and bloom indoors very easily. They require little care but reward you with a long period of fragrant indoor flowers. They look great near an entranceway to greet your guests or in your living/dining room to add a sweet fragrance.

Paperwhites

Paperwhites prefer well-drained soil but can grow just as well in rocks with water. To grow paperwhites in soil, find a suitable pot and plant the bulb so that the top third of the bulb is visible above the soil. Water them until the soil is evenly moist.

To grow paperwhites in water, place an inch or two of rocks or glass beads in the bottom of a vase. Place the bulbs on top of the rocks and fill the vase with water until it touches the base of the bulb. Place the pot or vase in a bright sunny window to encourage the bulbs to grow! Regularly check the pot or vase, adding water as needed.

It is best if you plant the bulbs in the soil or rocks and place them in a cool room for 2 to 3 weeks to let them develop roots. Wait another 4 to 6 weeks for the Paperwhites to bloom just in time for the holiday season!

Amaryllis

Amaryllis ‘Red Lion’

Of the many flowering bulbs, Amaryllis are one of the easiest to bring to bloom. These large bulbs provide you with weeks of colour through the holiday season, often blooming well into January. They can produce multiple flower stems with 3 to 6 blooms per stem.

Amaryllis normally take about 6 to 8 weeks from the time you plant them until they bloom. If you have a shorter time frame, however, you can grow several special varieties that will bloom in 4 to 6 weeks. Please remember that Amaryllis bulbs may not bloom if they are in too large of a pot.

‘Mont Blanc’

‘Minerva’

CLICK HERE to learn more about growing Amaryllis and Paperwhite bulbs indoors at this time of year (also known as bulb ‘forcing’)

P.S. – we’ll let you in on a secret Hunters Garden Centre tip… For a continuous display, start a few bulbs at 2-week intervals so there will be new blooms starting as one finishes!

Visit us in-store to browse from a wide range of high-quality Amaryllis and Paperwhite bulbs… Christmas is around the corner!

Use Dormant Spray to Prepare Fruit Trees and Shrubs for Winter

It is that time of year again where the first frost has crept up on us! Average temperatures here in the Lower Mainlands have already dropped, so it’s a good idea to ensure your plants are prepared for the winter weather. Specifically, it is important to treat your Roses, Fruit Trees and other deciduous shrubs. Dormant spray will ensure that the plants are not infested or damaged from pests such as aphids, mites, caterpillar eggs, fungus and many more.

A dormant spray kit contains Lime Sulphur and Horticultural Oil. These are two low-impact pesticides that are not harmful to pollinators. The Lime Sulphur helps to prevent the spread of fungal spores while the Horticultural Oil helps to kill the eggs of insects.

The sulphur and oil can be combined and sprayed at the same time. You can use any type of sprayer including trigger sprayers, pressure sprayers, or tank sprayers.

It is important to note that the plants should only be sprayed on a clear day when the temperatures are above zero degrees Celsius for at least 6 hours. As well, carefully read the instructions on each product since application rates and temperature ranges may differ between products. Call or visit us in-store if you have any questions about the application process!

We have our Dormant Spray Kits on special for $29.99 until Sunday, November 7^th at our Surrey location. We will continue to offer these kits all fall and winter long too at both Vancouver and Surrey stores!

Dormant Spray Kit Box

Dormant Spray Kit Includes: Horticultural Oil and Lime Sulphur

Happy spraying!

Garlic

October 24th, 2021

Grow your own Garlic!

Vampires beware it’s time to plant garlic. Fall is a great time to plant your garlic crop for next year and growing good garlic is easy. If you just plant the cloves in the ground anytime between September and March and it will probably grow. But if you want to grow large, healthy bulbs, there is more to it. Click here to download our Garlic Growing Tips Information Brochure.

This year you can choose from ten different varieties of garlic, including three varieties of certified organic garlic. They include:

• Regular White – Common type of white garlic, has a mild flavour.
• Elephant – Has large cloves but very mild flavour
• Bogatyr - A Hardneck variety known for its hot, strong taste. Excellent for roasting
• Chesnok Red -
• Duganski – Fiery flavour that mellows when cooked. Stores well.
• Mexican Purple – This garlic has a hot flavour when raw, but becomes milder when baked
• Music – Music is large beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. Its flavour is very rich and musky, strong and robust and sticks around for a while.
• Russian Red – A rocambole hardneck garlic with a rich, musky flavour and is very hot when eaten raw. Grows great in the northwest.

Certified Organic Varieties

• Armenian
• Northern Quebec Porcelain
• Red Russian

To download our Garlic Growing Tips, click here.

To download a list of Garlic Types, click here

Hyacinths

October 18th, 2021

Enjoy the sweet fragrance of Hyacinths!

Hyacinths are one of the most fragrant spring bulbs you can plant in your garden. They have a beautifully sweet scent, are deer resistant, and are easy to grow You can choose from white, red, pink, and blue flowers.

You can also grow Hyacinths indoors to add a little spring colour to your home during the holiday season by forcing them to bloom (Click here for more information about bulb forcing).

Daffodils

October 15th 2021

Grow some Dazzling Daffodils!

Daffodil bulbs, also known as Narcissus, are one of the most spectacular bulbs to plant in your garden. They have cheerful yellow blooms in spring, they are perfect to grow in pots or in your garden, and they are squirrel and rabbit resistant. A group of Daffodils can bloom repeatedly in your garden for months in the spring. If you plant them in a sunny location with well-drained soil Daffodils will return to bloom again for many years. Our selection still includes over 30 varieties of Daffodils for you to choose from.

The most popular daffodil has to be King Alfred Daffodils. This variety is indeed the King as it has one of the largest blooms. Growing to between 12 and 16 inches (30 to 40 cm) tall they will produce an abundant grouping of flowers in mid-spring (March and April).