Hyacinthus Orientalis (Dutch Hyacinth)

By Tom Knight

About the Indoor Hyacinth

Imagine filling your home with the intoxicating fragrance of spring in the middle of winter. That's the magic of indoor Hyacinths!

The Dutch Hyacinth is more well known as an outdoor garden bulb that flowers in spring and gives off a glorious floral scent. However over the last few decades, they've become popular temporary houseplants to pick up in pots from supermarkets and plant shops over the Winter months.

Pot plant Hyacinths growing out of season are always temporary guests in your home used to brighten rooms when it's dark and cold outside. In nature at this time of the year they're outdoors buried in the garden waiting patiently to flower in the approaching Spring. This means "Hyacinth houseplants" have been "forced" to flower at this time.

Each Hyacinth bulb will produce one main leafless stalk with 30 or more crowded bell-like flowers. If you get lucky, you'll sometimes get several smaller stalks after the main one has finished, which prolongs the display.

Forcing simply means encouraging the bulb to bloom earlier than its natural spring season. You can have a go at doing this yourself if you'd like, or you can simply buy them pre-forced, which is what I usually do.

They're pretty cheap, and forced bulbs are available from November to early April. The smell will fill a room and the blooms are large and showy. Coming in white, blue, pinks, reds and sometimes yellow, orange or purple, giving you your very own polite, "take that, Winter" middle-finger salute.

Arguably the true magnificence of the Hyacinth as a houseplant is its smell. The fragrance is rich, sweet, and intensely floral, capable of perfuming an entire room for days. Lots of houseplants in flower "smell" but I think only the Jasmine can rival the Hyacinth in its ability to create that fragrant wow factor.

After flowering has finished you can plant the bulbs outside in the garden for a display in future years. - Photo by ElenaSchifirnet.

Once the forced bulbs are finished they can't be forced again the following year (you can try and I'll explain how later, but the display is often poor compared to the initial one). As a result of this, many plant pot labels or common myths surrounding forced bulbs say after flowering has finished you should throw the bulbs away as they will be useless.

Don't do this.

The choice and variety on offer are huge. Some of the more popular ones are "White Pearl" (pure white) "City of Harlem" (light yellow) "Jan Bos" (dark pink) "Pink Pearl" (light pink with white edges), "Gypsy Queen" (light orange). They may also be unlabeled or a hybrid, so in the main pick the flower colour you want on display.

This can be tricky if there is no indication of what the flower colour will be, for example if you're buying them loose. As a general guide the colour of the bulb gives you a reliable indication of what you can expect when it does bloom. Below is a helpful guide that you can follow.

Three different hyacinth bulb colours which then indicate what colour the flowers will be.

Hyacinth Care Guide

Light

Hyacinths need good light to bring into flower and to prevent the stems from becoming leggy and top-heavy. They will also need good light to build energy for the next year's display if you plan to keep the bulbs and plant them outside in Spring.

If you've bought the plants and they're just budding but you want to bring the flowers on quickly, direct Winter sunlight will rapidly increase the speed of growth. Rotate the pot every couple of days to ensure even growth and prevent the stems from leaning too much towards the light.

Watering

When growing in a warm spot with good light levels, Hyacinths are usually thirsty plants. This is especially true if you have several bulbs in a small pot. The root space in this situation is tight and the potting mix isn't able to hold a great deal of moisture. This means it will dry out reasonably fast.

Hyacinth bulbs indoors will often be grown in a small container and their roots will quickly take up the limited space. Not an issue, but it does mean they may need more frequent watering than other houseplants.

Try to keep the soil moist at all times just before and during the flowering period. If it dries out you risk the flowers not opening at all or going over too quickly. If the soil is constantly wet then the bulbs and flowers could rot.

Humidity

Excessive dry air (perhaps found near fireplaces or log burners) can cause brown tips on the leaves and sometimes this will cause some of the flower buds not to open. But in the main humidity isn't a concern for these plants.

Feeding

If you plan to keep the bulbs and plant them outside eventually, then feed with a weak fertilizer solution every month.

Only feed your Hyacinths when there are green leaves or flowers present. There is no need to feed the dormant bulb. - Photo by 4028mdk09.

Temperature

Warm temperatures will bring the flowers on quicker than a cool room. When in flower though, cool temperatures will mean they'll last much longer. You can move the plant to different rooms with different temperatures to suit your needs.

Prolonged hot temperatures, above 20°C (68°F) can trigger unnatural and lanky growth. Try to avoid this, or it can ruin the display.

Repotting

Even if you plan to use the bulbs in your garden you don't need to repot them. The container is only temporary anyway, so a few weeks (or months) after flowering has finished and it's warm enough outside, transplant them directly into the garden soil.

Propagation

Generally there isn't a need to think about propagation if you're treating your Hyacinths as a temporary houseplant.

However if you want to put them outside for future displays as normal garden plants then you can encourage offsets. There are a number of ways you can do this.

I've found gently scoring the bottom of the bulb's basal plate (the flat, woody part where the roots grow) with a sharp knife has worked well for me over the years. Do it in a cross shape so you will have 4 quarters. Bury as you would normally and in a few years you'll have multiple plants growing and flowering together.

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Come see me over on YouTube talking about this plant.

Speed of Growth

The growth rate depends on the temperature you provide. In a cool room, it could take a month for the flower stalk to reach full height and start blooming. In a warm room, it will be half this. If you put your plant in a hot room, then the flower stalk could be up and blooming in less than a week.

Height / Spread

Expect between 6 - 8in / 15 - 20cm and spread should be no more than 5in / 12.5cm.

Flowers

It's only really the reliable Dutch Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) that is forced for use as an indoor pot plant. So although you can get them in many different colours they are generally all quite similar in appearance initially with strong leafless flower stalks that bear scores of clustered star-like flowers.

Potted Hyacinths come in many colours including blues, pinks, yellow, red and white.

They'll start smelling as soon as they open, however it will usually be several days before the fragrance increases in potency.

Many commercially grown Dutch Hyacinths have been grown and cared for well, so the bulbs are of a good size. Generally a good rule of thumb is that bigger bulbs are more likely to produce a bonus second (but smaller) flower stalk.

Are Indoor Hyacinths Poisonous?

Most indoor plants grown from bulbs tend to have toxic compounds concentrated in the bulb itself and this is true for Hyacinths. On one hand, the most dangerous part (the bulb) is sometimes hidden from view under the soil so it's ignored, but if a pet or child knock the pot over the bulb may become visible and look like something tasty to try.

Photo by Amy West showing her cat Scarlett ignoring the sweet smelling hyacinth in flower. Her cat ignores houseplants, so Amy is happy to grow plants in their shared living space.

Anything else?

Even if you provide everything the plant needs, when growing inside, the flowering stem may still become unstable and fall over (the reason for this is usually temperature related).

As long as that "fall over" happens gradually and naturally the stem shouldn't snap off. Alternatively, you can support it with canes or string to keep everything upright and neat.

How to Force a Hyacinth Bulb

Growing your own forced Hyacinths is a rewarding project, especially if you involve children or grandchildren. Remember: once forced, a bulb cannot be forced again the following year, so plan to move these to the garden afterward.

It's common to use forced bulbs in potting soil, but you can also grow them using just water in a glass. - Photo by storebukkebruse.

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Phase 1: Preparation

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Phase 2: Planting (Soil Method)

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Phase 3: The "Chilling" Period (Forcing)

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Phase 4: Displaying & Flowering

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Phase 5: Using Glass Vases (Water Method)

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What to do with an Indoor Hyacinth after flowering?

Lots of people throw them away. Don't do this. It's one of the main reasons houseplants ownership can have a negative environmental impact. Instead plant them outside. It's so simple, a little spade and a little hole which gets sunshine is all you need. The bulb will bloom for you every spring year after year.

If I've got your attention but you want a little more guidance, you're in luck. I've done a YouTube video talking you through the process and showing you what to do. I've directly linked to the exact timestamp where I talk about this.

Hyacinth Problems

Long limp leaves.

If this occurs before flowering has happened then it's caused by keeping the bulbs in darkness for too long during the forcing period.

After flowering has finished these long limp leaves are normal for indoor grown Hyacinths. They'll flop all over the place and look messy because it's typically warmer indoors than what they're used to when grown outdoors and this triggers excessive leaf growth.

So rather than keep them on display you can move them to a less used spot in your home, keeping them cool and watered. As soon as it warms up outside enough that harsh frosts are unlikely, plant them outdoors.

Heavy leggy flowering stems.

In the picture below I've put two plants together for comparison.

The Hyacinth with pink flowers has the common leggy look problem that many indoor Hyacinths get. A second plant with white flowers is more compact and stable and looks more attractive.

Two containers which have been grown in different rooms with different temperatures. Hyacinths prefer cool temperatures and do not like it to be too hot.

If the temperatures are really warm or too hot then everything about the plant accelerates. Growth is very obvious, leaves grow taller and longer and the flowering stems move further away from the crown of leaves.

The pink flowering Hyacinth was kept in a living room close to a fireplace. Nice to look at and smell during the evenings but much too hot for it.

You need a cool place away from strong sources of heat to prevent this happening. As an example, the better looking white Hyacinth was kept in a cool hallway, and so it has avoided this problem.

No flowers.

Lots of possible causes for lack of flowers on Hyacinths. You may not be watering correctly, or undersized bulbs have been used. During forcing, the bulbs may have been kept too warm or brought into bright light too quickly.

Different flower colours.

Of course if you have multiple bulbs growing in a single container you may end up with a mismatch in colours, but sometimes one or two of the small individual flower buds are a different colour. You can see this in the photo below.

Although pretty rare this is considered a mutant / stray flower bud.

If your Hyacinth is doing this then it's safe to say something has gone wrong in the flower development stages. It's unusual and rare but not harmful to the plant and not something you can control. If you decide to keep your bulb for natural flowering in subsequent years then they will likely come out "normal". So for now my advice is to enjoy the weirdness of nature.

Hyacinth buds fail to open / Deformed Flowers.

Normally this is caused by a couple of issues. This is rare when you buy ready to go plants as they're already growing. But if you've forced them, then it could be that you've kept the bulbs too warm while forcing. There isn't anything you can do this year, but you try again next year with a new set of bulbs.

If the plant makes it to the flowering stage but some of the buds are rotten. Then it's usually, erratic watering that is the problem here (too much or too little). Make sure you water around the bulbs rather than over them and try to keep the soil moist rather than allowing it to dry out heavily or letting them sit in saturated soil.

If the plant runs out of water it will abandon some of the flowering buds and too much water can trigger rotting.

This pink Hyacinth has started blooming, but not all the buds have opened and some are rotting.

Stale Scent.

The smell of the flowers is amazing for a week or so. But after this, the scent often falters and it starts to go stale. I personally don't like it at this stage, if you're not a fan either, move your plant to a less used room to avoid it.

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Also on Ourhouseplants.com

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Credit for Blue Hyacinths and bulbs - Article / Gallery - 4028mdk09
Credit for Hyacinths growing outside - Article / Gallery - ElenaSchifirnet
Credit for close up of red Hyacinth flowers - Gallery - Photo Spock
Credit for Bulbs grown in glass - Article / Gallery - storebukkebruse
Credit for the Cat and White Hyacinth plants - Article / Gallery - Amy West

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