Chinese love to decorate their homes with Narcissus (Chinese Sacred Lily in particular) during Chinese New Year. The beautiful white Narcissus flowers with orange cups blossom around 7-14 days, and when they bloom, they send out a very sweet fragrance.
Since we have the Narcissus particularly for Chinese New Year decoration, of course, we would want the plants blossom right on Chinese New Year’s Day. Yet, the wide swing in temperature we have nowadays makes it uneasy to ensure the Narcissus blossoms right on the few days of Chinese New Year.
We had some very warm days (>20 °C) in early February. So, in order to make sure the Narcissus we were cultivating for Chinese New Year wouldn’t blossom too early, we kept our Narcissus in the refrigerator for more than a week time, and brought them out 1-2 days before the Chinese New Year’s Day.
This is the crab pincer style. The Narcissus flower buds were starting to bloom once they were taken out from the refrigerator.
The blossom was at its fullest on the 4th-5th day after taken out from the refrigerator, and started to get tired after 10 days or so.
Check post – Narcissus Blossom – An Important Symbol in Chinese New Year
Love these squiggly leaves kind! They look really pretty with the flowers higher than the leaves.
I have a yellow Narcissus, but its flowers have wilted already. I think it is too hot for it in the living room, and there is still frost at night on the balcony over here.
Zoli, yes, Narcissus flowers wilt especially quick when the temperature is too warm. Do you turn on the heater in your living room?
Stephanie, yes I agree. I don’t really see how it looks like a crab pincher too 😛 But this is a very popular Narcissus bulb carving style 😉
The crab pincher method made the leaves looks like squid rather than crab. Nonetheless, the method gives the Narcissus plant an arty feel 😉 And I am glad for you that the flower blossoms on the days you wanted them to. Good job!
Oh! So very pretty!
But, growing in the refrigerator is a new one for me and my mind is racing to see if I can try it out here in Mumbai too. Tell me more about it please. Do you chill just the bulbs or the grown plant?
I chilled the growing plant indeed. This is just one of the many that we had chilled for 5-6 days before Chinese New Year. We didn’t expect the weather would become so warm, and we had our refrigerators all packed with Narcissus 😛
My Narcissus is over, I’ll take out the bulbs and try the refrigerathor-method next year 🙂
Yes, give it a try next year. Let me know if you have any question 😉