Last fall I potted up dozens of tulip and hyacinth bulbs and gave them a 15-week cold treatment (called forcing) in a spare refrigerator at my husband’s office. I brought them out at different intervals in February and March and enjoyed a month or so of indoor spring flowers.
The only hitch is that many of the tulips did not do very well. The leaves were stunted and some of the flowers were unusually small. That refrigerator was in a heated garage, but we think it might’ve gotten TOO cold out there. So this year my husband moved the refrigerator into the main office and we’ll see if that makes a difference.
In the meantime I kept the number of tulips I’m forcing low this year and instead loaded up on hyacinths. They did very well last year, and I love their intoxicating scent.