I get so many emails after the Christmas season from people who feel like their home is bare after they remove their holiday decorations. I love the fresh, clean slate of our home after we clear out the tree and stuff but, I admit, I like to add a little something to freshen up the place.
Paperwhites are the perfect it’s-still-winter-but-after-Christmas-but-waaaay-too-early-for-spring decoration.
You can plant them in practically anything from a bowl to baskets to my new favorite– glass hurricanes. Now I’m wishing I would have used my Giving Thanks hurricanes for my paperwhites. I may have to go buy a few more bulbs to get me through January.
What’s your go to winter pick me up to get your home through those bleak days?
While you’re thinking, here’s a fun tutorial from P. Allen Smith on how to grow paperwhites.
{Click here if you can’t see the video.}
By the Nester, Nesting Place
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What a lovely idea! Paperwhites remind of Easter, for some reason. And Easter reminds me that the hurt brings new life. I could benefit from that visual reminder during the bleak, cold, dark days ahead.
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I love the look of paperwhites, but when I tried to grow them the smell was incredible! And not in a good way. I had to take them outside. Did I just get the wrong kind?
I agree! They are awfully stinky, is there another bulb that can be forced that smells better?
I have to agree, the smell is awful. I very patiently forced some bulbs a few years ago and had to put them outside. I wonder if they have a “no-scent” variety?
How wonderful that we are all so different – I just LOVE the smell! I have some planted in a glass vase by my kitchen sink right now.
I’ve never had paperwhites in my home, they look so fresh…another thing to try! 🙂
Janell
Love that look!!! Very fresh and modern. Would bring some much needed green to my family room. 🙂
My go to items are smelly candles. My hubby and I have we”weird schedules” – he works at a hospital and may work holidays. I work for a university and am off for a week at Christmas.
We don’t do much decorating as it is just the two of us & we have families to see. The paperwhites do look nice.
I love these…they are my birth month flower…I have never grown them, think I will try it!
Is it weird that I am having a REALLY hard time packing up my Nativities? I have them in new spots on my bookshelves & am seriously thinking they are staying up for now…I just can’t put them in a box. Everything else is packed up, or re-done for post-Christmas…feeling weird.
a few years ago, I left mine out for the entire year…I figured it was a reminder that we could all use 🙂
Thanks for telling me that…I’m leaving them out 🙂 I agree, just the reminder we need!
I’ve been wanting to try paperwhites and even bought the bulbs and then I found out it will take about 8 weeks to force them to bloom. Needless to say, I don’t have that kind of patience so I need to just buy them already done this year. I’m also trying my hand at succulents because I heard they are hard to kill and have no gardening skills whatsoever!
I’m waiting for the little bowl of crocuses that my in-laws sent me to bloom!
I worked like a maniac cleaning out the medicine cabinet, the linen closet, and kitchen cabinets yesterday. Purging the shelves of expired medicine, odds and ends of junk, and re-organizing what was left was a great mid-winter project and left me exhilerated and relieved! I can now open doors without a cascade of misc. clutter tumbling out around me. Very energizing to have things where they belong!
beautiful!
i too, like to fill my home with candles to create a warm glow during the winter months.
i’m loving the green of the paperwhites, thank you for the idea!
I just posted about these! (www.farfromflawlesslife.blogspot.com). I plant them each December, knowing I’ll need the pick-me-up in January. Hiacynths and tulips will bloom by March – if you get them planted now!
Candles are my favorite in the winter!! I can’t kill them (ha), they add the warm and cozy ambience I love, while adding a fresh scent to my house!
I LOVE candles in the winter, too! Very warm and cozy and smell-goody!
How do you always know just what we need to add more loveliness to our lives? Miraculous.
I love using candles in the winter, but I love flowers! I kill most everything, I wonder if I could grow paperwhites?
Bernice
There is a God and it isn’t me
I have some forcing on my countertop right now…found them on clearance at Sam’s for $4/set and it included the glass container…woo hoo! love it!
Great idea!
I also like to buy a few primrose. Ahh…color for the grey days of winter!
Just FYI, paper whites are poisonous to cats!
Those flowers are so beautiful. The name is so delicate.
Paperwhites are gorgeous! I’ve never really seen them before.
I just smiled looking at your paperwhites…thank you.
I have loved paperwhites for so long and have wanted to grow them for Christmas arrangements. I have a hurricane that is just waiting for me to fill it with something…now I know what! : )
Love the paperwhites!
[…] Plants make a room feel instantly fresh and alive. I brought my sweet potato vine in during the fall and it’s still doing pretty well. He gets moved around every week or so. I keep a little table by our window and rotate plants out from there into other parts of the house. My yellow poinsettia is still looking nice so he’s still out and not terribly Christmasy and we just added a little bonsai tree from Ikea to our coffee table. And of course, yesterday we talked about paperwhites and their magic powers. […]
Thanks for the lovely pictures. Those paper whites are beautiful, but I agree with others that I don’t love the smell…tends to give me a headache.
Just a suggestion, when I plant my fall bulbs, I throw the extra in pretty much any pot I have around. I leave them in the basement and maybe water twice. They started to sprout new life right as I was putting my Christmas decor away. I brought them up and have started to treat them like I do all my other houseplants, you know light, water, etc. and they’re coming to life.