I have a confession to make. Halloween was only a little more than a week ago, Thanksgiving is still a couple weeks away, but I've got the Christmas bug. I know, I know....bad, bad, bad!
I blame it on the boys in my family. One son has a birthday next week, and my other son and Hubster have theirs in the beginning of December. I start shopping early and have thoughts about what gift ideas will be for their birthdays and what will be for Christmas. And you know what happens when you get in the stores this time of year. You get bit by the Christmas bug....at least I do.
So on Friday I succumbed to the bug and bought some Christmas decorations. It was out of necessity though...really! Last year I fell in love with Yvonne from Stone Gable's paperwhites at Christmas time. I knew when this year rolled around I wanted to try my hand at them. The thing is, paperwhites take about six weeks to grow and bloom. So if I wanted them to bloom by Christmas, this was the week.
Aren't they beautiful? Make sure you check out the Stone Gable blog when you get a chance. Yvonne has created such a gracious home. It's really lovely.
So here's where the rebel part comes in....since I pretty much have a brown thumb, and I'm all about being frugal, I bought paperwhite kits at WalMart rather than going to the garden center and purchasing bulbs and dirt or rocks like I'm pretty sure Yvonne did. (Did I mention how precious my time is to me too?)
It's actually a good deal and super easy. For five dollars, each kit comes with 4 bulbs, a pot (although I chose to use my own pretty containers....more rebellion), and potting medium.
You place the 1-inch potting medium disc in your container, add water, and in about a half hour your disc expands and fills the whole pot. It's pretty impressive!
Once all the water is absorbed, you can "fluff up" the soil a bit and then you can place your bulbs, sprout side up and root side down, in it. The bulbs don't need to be deep. From what I've read, the dirt is just to hold the bulbs upright so the roots can grow deep and gather nutrients from the water. Some folks don't actually use dirt at all, but simply place the bulbs in pretty stones.
So....hopefully I will have gorgeous paperwhites for Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers and my brown thumbs too. I'll let you know how it goes.
It's actually a good deal and super easy. For five dollars, each kit comes with 4 bulbs, a pot (although I chose to use my own pretty containers....more rebellion), and potting medium.
You place the 1-inch potting medium disc in your container, add water, and in about a half hour your disc expands and fills the whole pot. It's pretty impressive!
Once all the water is absorbed, you can "fluff up" the soil a bit and then you can place your bulbs, sprout side up and root side down, in it. The bulbs don't need to be deep. From what I've read, the dirt is just to hold the bulbs upright so the roots can grow deep and gather nutrients from the water. Some folks don't actually use dirt at all, but simply place the bulbs in pretty stones.
So....hopefully I will have gorgeous paperwhites for Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers and my brown thumbs too. I'll let you know how it goes.
Here, they were planted in a silver urn and incorporated into a beautiful hot cocoa bar.
Flanking a staircase.
Aren't these a sweet little favor for a Christmas dinner?
Planting them in a jelly or mason jar makes for a cute little gift too!
I hope you all have a great Monday!
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- Jill