FORCING BULBS \ How to do it

As Sue Chapin says, forcing paperwhites and amaryllis bulbs is “pure enjoyment” — and just a little work. Here’s how to do it:

PAPERWHITES

Buy the biggest bulbs you can afford; they’ll produce more stems and flowers. Walt Fisher buys cheap and in quantity from specialty places, but the bulbs are fine at garden centers and big-box stores. Paperwhites can cost less than $1 apiece. They bloom for up to three weeks.

Put them in a shallow, nondraining pot or container. See-through is good for root-watching. Cut-glass fruit bowls are eye-catching.

As for bulbs, the more the merrier. Sally Ferguson of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center in Vermont plants seven to 10 per pot.

Keep moist but not wet. No fertilizer needed. Place in a bright window, preferably south-facing, until they start blooming. Then move to a cooler area to prolong flowering. Remove dead flowers and when the end is nigh, toss. Your paperwhite cannot be revived.

And the experts cannot agree on what to plant paperwhites in. Ferguson likes pebbles, marbles, decorative moss, glass beads, river-washed stones and aquarium sand. Art Wolk, who expects to self-publish a book on bulb-forcing in 2009, is down on the pebble approach. Paperwhites grow 12 to 18 inches tall and often need stakes to keep them upright, he said, and pebbles just don’t cut it. Wolk uses a professional potting mix of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite and perlite, with 12-inch bamboo or green florist sticks connected with string for support. The artistic Ferguson plays around with chopsticks and garden twigs, perhaps some curlicues from a Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, tied with raffia or ribbon. Walt Fisher of Bryn Mawr, Pa., has grown paperwhites hydroponically, with just water covering the roots. He’s even used coffee grounds. “All the nutrients required to produce a flower are inside the bulb already,” he says. “You just have to keep the water up.”

AMARYLLIS

Go for big bulbs, no fertilizer. Plant snugly in potting mix or pebbles in a fairly deep pot with a drainage hole and saucer underneath.

For a spectacular splash, plant three to five bulbs of the same variety, shoulder-to-shoulder. (They cost about $10 each.)

Leave about 2 inches of bulb above the soil. Once growth begins, put in a sunny window, but once in bloom, the pot can go anywhere.

Water once and don’t do it again until the bud and stalk appear. Then keep moist. Blooms can last up to 10 days.

Stake if your plant gets top-heavy and snip off spent blooms and stalks. Another stem could sprout. Amaryllis also make long-lasting cut flowers.

When the show’s over, you have a choice. Unlike paperwhites, amaryllis can be coaxed into reblooming indoors next year. It’s easy, the experts say. Then again, life is short.