- Author: Sally Thompson
Want to perk up your neighborhood (give ‘em something to talk about) this holiday season with a COVID-friendly idea? This particular gift is easy on the budget, appeals to virtually any neighbor, and simple enough for even the horticulturally-challenged to feel like a pro, and maybe even awaken some kind of dormant gardener in them. Almost 20 years ago, when I taught 6th grade (Language Arts and Social Studies...not Science!), a student gave me a simple clear glass vase with some pebbles and a couple of bulbs right before the two-week holiday break. He said as he put it on my desk, “My dad said to put water to the bottom of the bulbs and put it in indirect light. What's indirect light, anyway?” I explained what indirect light was and then thanked him, not knowing that, in a small way, this simple gift would change my life!
Can you believe that I had never actually observed, actively noticing at least a couple of times a day, a plant grow right there in my kitchen windowsill? At first, nothing. But then after about a week, I could see the white roots starting to wind around the dark pebbles. “Oh,” I thought, “this is great to have the clear vase!” And the little stems that had been slightly curled over stood up straight and started heading for the ceiling like the two little bulbs were in some kind of race. By mid-January they both had multiple white, fragrant flowers, and yet, kept heading for the ceiling. I know, a simple thing. I'd call out to my husband, “They must have grown two inches today.” My husband, who had done all the gardening for years, with me deceiving myself into thinking I was gardening by doing a little raking in the fall and weeding in the spring, smiled as if to say, “Yep, amazing…that's what plants do, Sal.” I was delighted!
By the next fall, I had forgotten about the bulbs when I walked into The Gardener on 4th Street in Berkeley, and they had a shockingly beautiful display of Paperwhites with bulbs for sale - $1 each. That was the plant!!! I bought a few dozen and then drove straight to Eco-Thrift (thrift store in Vallejo) to buy all their clear vases. Next, I headed to Crown Hill Material and selected a beautiful mix of grey and reddish pebbles. After reading up on forcing bulbs, we prepared the vases and distributed them to about two dozen neighbors leaving them on their doorstep with a big red ribbon and some instructions akin to, “My dad said to put the water to the bottom of the bulb and put it in indirect light.” But - and here is the part that really perked up the neighborhood - we did it anonymously. By that evening, our neighborhood email list was on fire with, “Did you get a bulb?” “Hey, I had this thing at my door…anyone else get one?” And then one neighbor said, “It had to be THE BULB FAIRIES!” And, so, the tradition began.
This will be the 18th year that my husband and I “sneak around” the week before Thanksgiving and leave bulbs. Most everyone knows it is us, but never once has it been said out loud that we are the bulb fairies. Neighbors love being the first to write on our neighborhood email, “The Bulb Fairies have visited again!”, and while we are a very secular neighborhood, people post photos to see if the flowers have bloomed right on Christmas Day. We are up to distributing 10 dozen bulbs and have streamlined the process by buying 10 dozen canning jars at ACE hardware instead of stripping the thrift store of all vases. This year, with a shortage of canning jars (in case you don't can, don't start because jars are hard to come by) we will put pebbles and a bulb in a baggy and ask everyone to supply their own vase!
One other thing about how that simple gift 20 years ago changed me. I started paying more attention to our own garden, I started attending the Vallejo Garden Tour every year, and eventually, the year after I retired I became a Master Gardener. I knew very little about plants and gardening but was thoroughly humbled to learn the depth and breadth of my ignorance. I have been taking Horticulture classes at Solano Community College ever since! Yes, I can now call them Narcissus papyraceous, I can name the parts of the flower and I can even discuss the difference between a bulb and tuber, but I get just as excited each year watching the roots wrap around the pebbles and placing bets on which flower will get the closest to the ceiling as I did 20 years ago.
Perhaps YOUR neighborhood could use a bulb fairy this year! And who might that dormant gardener near you be?
Photos:
- Dozens of bulbs in canning jars ready for delivery. We have gallon jugs of water in the car and pour the water in right before delivering to the door.
- The annual race for the ceiling in my kitchen window (the one in the jar on the right is a “late bloomer”)
- The Bulb Fairy, the author, herself showing the new 2020 delivery package (zip-lock bag with pebbles) due to the shortage of canning jars.
Happy Holidays