OMG - I love the fragrance of Hyacinths! When I saw the title to your post, I almost ran outside in the snow to check mine before I read the message, LOL!

I just planted mine about 6 or 7 years ago, but they still come up every year. I may have to go get some bulbs to force now.......

Susan

It's so easy and much cheaper than buying a blooming potfull in midwinter. I've been doing it for years. I leave them outdoors through late Dec then onto the porch thru late Jan then into the house to bloom in early to midFeb. Then plant them out in March to grow on.

I potted some up but it was because I kept buying too many bulbs on sale very late. I did not get all the daffodils planted and they are in my basement. Usually in winter I can go out and dig and I was doing that until this weather hit. I have some hyacinths in pots under the deep snow and mulch. How cool is your porch? I may be crazy enough to dig them out. I was at Wal- Mart over a week ago in the garden center and I smelled something good. It was hyacinths I tracked them down by smell and I wasn't even standing close to where they were. I see a blue jay through the window with a piece of dog food; I had plenty but my supply is dwindling. I would be in big trouble if I run out of dog food.

I try to keep the porch no lower than 40 but that first cold spell about a month ago when it got down to 3 F it got down to 28 and nipped several things--my tomatoes and begonias next to the windows the worst. The hyacinths were on the porch then but onto the kit table shortly after. Our Walmart has orchids in pots and they are lovely but not fragrant. No hyacinths yet.

Mulberryknob, what begonias do you grow? I used to grow a lot of different ones, not the bedding plants, but the Angel Wings and others.

Susan

It was a Dragon Wing that bit the dust. I have some common bedding begonias hanging in a basket, which survived on the porch, being closer to the heater and the ceiling. In the house I have two that were given to me. One is a variegated maple shaped leaf that has burgundy edges around a lime green center. The other was called "Beefsteak" by the lady who gave it to me. It has shiny smooth round to heart shaped leaves, up to 6" across. They are burgundy on bottom, dark green on top. Both these have small pinkish flowers. I have one other that I didn't know was a begonia until it bloomed. It has vining stems and hangs out of a basket. The flowers are small, almost white, not real showy.

They sound very nice. The Beefsteak is probably Begonia erythrophylla. Not sure about the maple leafed one - there are a lot of begonias, some 3,000+, but both of those are in the class of "rhizomatous". Your other one sounds like a trailing-scandent variety, perhaps B. solonanthera. I used to grow a lot of them from seed collected from the botanists all over the world, and we had Round Robins and traded seed a lot with folks in Europe, Japan, Australia, South America, and other exotic places.

The only begonia I now have is the hardy one, B. evansiana (I think it has another name now, can't keep up with nomenclature anymore), which is tuberous and hardy to zone 6. Those were my halcyon days of gardening under lights in my basement, traveling to national, regional, and local shows, meeting lots of great people.

Anyway, it's always nice to see someone who grows a begonia, so thanks for sharing that with us. I truly miss them.

Susan

I have the hardy one too, outside. But a couple zero degrees last year--without as much snow--hurt it. It didn't come back as thickly last spring.