There is a particular kind of magic in watching something grow in the middle of winter. Outside the window everything is grey, bare, and frozen. Inside, on your windowsill or coffee table, a fat amaryllis bulb that looked like nothing more than a brown onion two weeks ago is pushing up a thick green stalk that will open into blooms so large and vivid they look almost artificial. Trumpet-shaped flowers in deep red, pure white, or candy-striped pink, each one the size of a dinner plate, filling a corner of your living room with colour at exactly the moment the year needs it most.
This is the promise of holiday bulb forcing and it delivers every single time.
Amaryllis and paperwhite narcissus are the two most popular indoor forcing bulbs in Ontario and for good reason. Both are genuinely foolproof, requiring no garden space, no complicated equipment, and almost no prior growing experience. Both produce spectacular blooms in four to eight weeks from planting, timed perfectly for the holiday season with just a little planning. And both make extraordinary gifts for the plant lovers, the non-plant-people who appreciate beautiful things, and everyone in between.
Here is everything you need to know to grow both of them successfully this season.
Amaryllis: The Showstopper of the Holiday Season
What Makes Amaryllis Special
Amaryllis, botanically Hippeastrum, is the undisputed star of the indoor holiday garden. A single well-grown amaryllis bulb produces one to three flower stalks, each carrying four to six enormous trumpet-shaped blooms in colours ranging from the classic deep Christmas red to pure snow white, soft salmon pink, dramatic burgundy, delicate pink with white stripes, and vivid orange. The blooms open sequentially over two to three weeks, with each individual flower lasting several days, giving a single bulb a display window that carries well through the holiday season and into January.
The bulbs themselves are impressive objects, often as large as a grapefruit for premium varieties, dense and heavy with the energy stored inside them that will power those extraordinary flowers. Holding a large amaryllis bulb in November feels like holding a promise.
Choosing Your Amaryllis Bulb
The size of an amaryllis bulb is the single most reliable predictor of its flowering performance. Larger bulbs have stored more energy and will produce more flower stalks, more flowers per stalk, and larger individual blooms than smaller bulbs of the same variety. When choosing amaryllis bulbs at Lakeside Garden Gallery, always choose the largest bulb available within your preferred variety rather than the most conveniently priced smaller option.
Look for bulbs that feel firm and heavy rather than soft or light, with no visible mould, rot, or damage on the outer papery scales. A little dryness or papery peeling on the outside is completely normal and not a quality concern.
Best amaryllis varieties for Ontario holiday growing:
Red Lion is the classic deep red amaryllis that has been a holiday staple for generations and remains one of the most reliably spectacular performers available. Its enormous crimson blooms on sturdy stems are exactly what most people picture when they imagine an amaryllis in full glory.
Apple Blossom produces soft white blooms with delicate pink veining, a subtler and more elegant alternative to red varieties that works beautifully in contemporary interior spaces.
Minerva is a striking bicolour variety with white petals marked with vivid red stripes and a white star at the centre, producing one of the most dramatically patterned amaryllis blooms available.
Nymph is a fully double-flowered variety with densely packed peony-like blooms in white with red edging that looks genuinely extraordinary in a holiday display and is consistently one of the most sought-after varieties in Ontario garden centres.
How to Plant Amaryllis for Holiday Blooms
What you need:
A pot approximately 5 centimetres wider in diameter than the bulb with good drainage holes. A quality well-draining potting mix. The amaryllis bulb itself.
Planting:
Fill your pot approximately one third full with potting mix. Place the bulb in the centre of the pot and fill in around it with more potting mix, leaving the top third to half of the bulb exposed above the soil surface. This partial exposure is intentional and critical since amaryllis bulbs planted too deep are more prone to rot than those planted with their upper portions above the soil line.
Water thoroughly after planting until water flows freely from the drainage holes, then place the pot in a warm location with bright indirect light. A spot near a south or west-facing window at room temperature between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius is ideal for initiating growth.
Timing for holiday blooms:
Amaryllis typically takes six to ten weeks from planting to first bloom depending on the variety and growing conditions. Larger bulbs and warmer growing temperatures generally produce faster results than smaller bulbs in cooler locations.
To target Christmas blooms, plant your amaryllis bulb in mid to late October. To target New Year blooms, plant in early November. For Valentine’s Day blooms, plant in early December. These are guidelines rather than guarantees since individual bulbs vary, but they provide a reliable starting framework for timing your display.
What to expect as it grows:
Within one to two weeks of planting you will notice a green point emerging from the top of the bulb. This may be a flower stalk, a leaf, or both emerging together depending on the variety and the bulb’s particular developmental state. The stalk grows remarkably quickly once initiated, often visibly taller from one day to the next. Rotate the pot by a quarter turn every two to three days to encourage straight upright growth rather than a stalk that leans dramatically toward the light source.
The flower buds will be visible at the top of the stalk before they open, often showing colour for several days before the first trumpet unfurls. Once the first bloom opens the display typically continues for two to three weeks as subsequent buds on the same stalk open and additional stalks emerge and develop.
Care while in bloom:
Move your amaryllis away from direct sun once it comes into bloom since direct light fades the flower colour and shortens the life of individual blooms. A cooler room temperature during the blooming period, between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius, also extends the life of the blooms significantly. Water moderately, allowing the top centimetre of soil to dry between waterings.
How to Save Your Amaryllis Bulb for Next Year
This is the section that many Ontario amaryllis growers never read because they assume the bulb is finished after flowering and discard it. A quality amaryllis bulb can rebloom reliably for ten years or more with proper post-bloom care and the process of bringing it back into flower the following season is one of the most satisfying annual gardening rituals available to an Ontario indoor gardener.
After the blooms fade:
Cut the spent flower stalks back to about 3 centimetres above the bulb once all blooms have finished. Do not cut the leaves since the green foliage is actively photosynthesising and rebuilding the energy reserves in the bulb that will power next year’s flowers. Move the pot to the brightest available location and water regularly through spring and summer, fertilizing with a balanced liquid fertilizer every two to three weeks to support leaf growth and bulb development.
Inducing dormancy for reblooming:
In late summer, typically August or September, stop watering and allow the foliage to die back naturally. Move the bulb to a cool, dark location between 10 and 13 degrees Celsius for eight to ten weeks. A cool basement, an attached garage, or a cool closet all work well for this dormancy period. Do not water during this period.
After eight to ten weeks of cool dormancy, bring the bulb back into warmth and light and begin watering again. Within two to four weeks new growth will emerge and the flowering cycle begins again. Bulbs that have been properly fed through the growing season and given a complete cool dormancy period rebloom reliably and often produce more flower stalks in their second and third seasons than they did in their first.
Paperwhites: Fragrant Winter Magic in Water
What Makes Paperwhites Special
Paperwhite narcissus, botanically Narcissus papyraceus, are the fastest and simplest indoor forcing bulb available to Ontario gardeners and the one most likely to succeed on the very first attempt even with zero prior plant growing experience. Unlike amaryllis, which requires soil, paperwhites can be grown in nothing but water and pebbles, making them one of the most accessible and visually appealing indoor growing projects imaginable.
Their clusters of small, pure white flowers with golden yellow centres carry a sweet, intensely floral fragrance that fills an entire room and is for many people the olfactory definition of winter warmth and holiday cheer. The fragrance is powerful and distinctive, loved enthusiastically by some and found overwhelming by others, which is worth knowing before placing a full bowl of paperwhites in a small bedroom.
Paperwhites require no cold period before forcing, unlike most spring-flowering bulbs, which means they can be planted at any time and will bloom reliably in three to five weeks regardless of when you start them. This makes them ideal for staggered planting through November and December for a continuous succession of blooms through the entire holiday season.
How to Grow Paperwhites in Water and Pebbles
What you need:
A shallow bowl or container without drainage holes, approximately 10 to 15 centimetres deep. Decorative pebbles, gravel, glass beads, or even river stones to fill the bowl. The paperwhite bulbs themselves.
Planting:
Fill your container with pebbles to a depth of about 8 centimetres. Nestle the paperwhite bulbs into the pebbles with the pointed ends facing upward, placing them close together since a crowded bowl of paperwhites is more visually impactful than a sparse one. Five to seven bulbs in a medium bowl creates a lush and abundant display.
Add water to the container until it just reaches the base of the bulbs without submerging them. The roots will grow down through the pebbles to reach the water while the bulbs themselves remain above the waterline, preventing the rot that occurs when bulbs sit in standing water.
Place the container in a cool location with bright indirect light. A cool room, between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius initially, encourages the roots to develop before the top growth races ahead, producing stronger stems that are less likely to flop later. Once roots are established and top growth is visibly active, move to a warmer location to accelerate the blooming timeline.
Check and top up the water level every few days since paperwhites drink actively once their root systems are established.
Timing for holiday blooms:
Paperwhites bloom in three to five weeks from planting depending on temperature. For Christmas blooms, plant in late November to early December. For a continuous succession of blooms through the holiday season, plant one bowl in early November, another in mid November, and another in early December. Each planting provides a fresh flush of fragrant blooms two to three weeks after the previous one finishes.
The Alcohol Trick for Sturdy Paperwhite Stems
This is the most useful and widely searched paperwhite growing technique and one that is genuinely effective rather than a garden myth. Paperwhite stems grown in plain water have a tendency to become tall and floppy, particularly in the warm indoor conditions of a GTA home in winter, which is both aesthetically disappointing and structurally problematic for an otherwise beautiful display.
The solution, discovered and validated by researchers at Cornell University, is to replace the plain water in your paperwhite container with a diluted alcohol solution once the bulbs have begun to actively grow, typically when the green shoots are about 3 to 5 centimetres tall. Any clear spirit including gin, vodka, tequila, or rubbing alcohol works equally well. The only requirement is that the solution is diluted to between 4 and 6 percent alcohol by volume since higher concentrations damage the bulbs.
How to make the diluted solution:
For rubbing alcohol at 70 percent concentration, mix one part rubbing alcohol with ten parts water to achieve approximately 6 percent. For spirits at approximately 40 percent, mix one part spirit with seven parts water to achieve approximately 5 percent.
Replace the plain water in your container with this solution once shoots reach 3 to 5 centimetres and continue using the diluted solution for all subsequent top-ups. The result is paperwhite stems that are typically 30 to 50 percent shorter and significantly sturdier than those grown in plain water, producing a more compact and visually appealing display that requires no staking.
Growing Paperwhites in Soil
While the water and pebbles method is the most popular approach for paperwhites, they also perform beautifully when grown in a well-draining potting mix in a container with drainage holes. Soil-grown paperwhites produce slightly larger and more vigorous plants than water-grown ones since the soil provides a more complete growing medium, but the results are comparable for most home displays.
Plant bulbs in potting mix with the tips just at or slightly above the soil surface. Water thoroughly after planting and keep moist but not waterlogged. Follow the same timing and care guidance as for the water method above.
Amaryllis and Paperwhites as Holiday Gifts
Both plants make extraordinary holiday gifts for virtually anyone on your list, whether they garden actively or not, whether they have a house with a garden or a small condo apartment, whether they have a green thumb or have never successfully kept a plant alive in their lives.
A large amaryllis bulb planted in a beautiful decorative pot with a bow and a simple care card is one of the most striking and memorable gifts available at any price point. The recipient watches it grow and bloom over the following weeks in real time, a living gift that provides ongoing pleasure rather than a single moment of unwrapping.
A bowl of paperwhite bulbs nestled in pebbles with a small bottle of good gin for the alcohol trick is a beautiful and slightly playful gift combination that appeals to gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
Stop by Lakeside Garden Gallery and let our team help you choose the best amaryllis varieties and paperwhite bulbs for your holiday display or for the plant lovers on your gift list this season. We carry a beautiful selection of bulbs, decorative pots, and everything you need to create something extraordinary on your windowsill this winter. 🌹❄️🌟