Ep. 126 - Are Paperwhites "Houseplants"?
Off Topic
Over the holidays, the Plant Daddies both tried some boxed bulbs from the clearance rack (...it turns out!), and our “results may have varied.”
Now that indoor bulbs are gone from store shelves, this post-Paperwhite wrap-up is more about the experience, less about the care advice, and even leaves us questioning …what IS a houseplant to us? We get on our soapboxes. Did adding alcohol work? And what does Thalassa Cruso have to say? Buckle up for an interesting ride this week!
Mentioned in this episode:
what happened when we forced Paperwhites to bloom indoors this year - a nostalgic, much-loved experience for one Plant Daddy, and a completely new one for the other.
how is this process described by the classic indoor gardening expert, Thalassa Cruso? Does she give hints that we should have heeded, both about how to do it, and what we should expect? Can we ever expect these to flower again?
does the fragrance of a Paperwhite make it the “cilantro of flowers?” What’s behind the polarizing scent, and are there varieties less likely to offend those who dislike it?
even Thalassa says that it seems almost inevitable that these collapse into a floppy mess, so we were very intrigued by the 2009 article, “Pickling Your Paperwhites” from Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, with a boozy tip to prevent this… were we impressed? Meh.
but what even are Paperwhites? We delve into the taxonomy of the Narcissus genus to learn their origins in the wild, and what makes them different from the garden Daffodils. Whether classic Paperwhites are Narcissus papyraceus or tazetta, they’re all beautiful and appealing.
and finally… even though forcing bulbs to bloom indoors over the winter is undeniably a classic and cherished experience, we have to wonder… can we even call these houseplants, or is it maybe more a form of floristry? Here’s where we basically just hash out our own thoughts, because with people doing so many amazing things with unexpected plants indoors, it’s an extremely subjective call to make!
Here’s what Matthew’s bulb forcing looked like in mid-January at the peak of its beauty… compared to what it looks like a month later, without any additional flowers, and one bulb still doing nothing. Theoretically higher-quality bulbs would have made a difference, but he’s still growing them in his brightest windowsill with some fertilizer, and might bury them in his yard just to see what happens. Meanwhile, Stephen did a dissection experiment, which you can view on our TikTok and Instagram!
But here are some photos Matthew took years ago of more satisfying Paperwhite flowers. The first were of similar quality to the ones the Plant Daddies grew this year, but the second photo is of plants from a specialty bulb supplier. He’s skeptical that it’s always worth the extra cost, but poor quality bulbs just won’t produce quality flowers, no matter where they come from.
