Hyacinth Aftercare: Here's What To Do With Bulbs After Flowering (& Mistakes To Avoid)

Common hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) are gorgeous flowering bulbs that fill your garden with a heady fragrance during spring. They're perfect for mass planting, and with the many hybrids now available, you can get outstanding floral colors in white, red, orange, pink, blue, and purple. You can even mix the bulbs when planting other spring flowering species for a magnificent display. However, if you're growing hyacinth for the first time in your yard or even in a pot indoors, you'll need to know exactly what to do with the bulbs after the plants have finished flowering. Once the blooms are gone, it's vital that you let plant accumulate as much energy in the bulbs as possible before you lift and store them. This way, hyacinths will delight you with their flowers again next season.

Hyacinth aftercare is a process that's fairly simple if you follow some basic rules. It's easy to tell when the flower has finished bloomin. It will lose its fragrance, the petals will start to dry, and the stalk will fall over. At this point, you want to remove the spent flower heads by cutting the stem down as far as possible without damaging the leaves — you don't want the plant to put any energy into producing seeds. Rather, all the energy should go back into the bulb; this will result in stunning flowers next year. 

After they're finished blooming and you've removed the flower spikes, make sure the hyacinth plants are still getting plenty of sunshine, so that the leaves continue to photosynthesize and produce ample amounts of energy to store in the bulb. If your hyacinth is in a pot, place it outdoors in a nice sunny spot or onto a brightly lit windowsill. Keep the bulb watered while the foliage is green and lush. Just take care not to overwater, because bulbs sitting in water will rot. You should also feed your plants with a high-phosphorus, low-nitrogen fertilizer, like bonemeal, during this phase of their growth. Keep nurturing your plants until the foliage finally dies down — don't make the mistake of lifting the bulbs before this has happened.

When the foliage is dead, dig up the bulbs gently, cut off the withered leaves and remove any dirt around the roots. You can also divide them at this stage. Once the bulbs are relatively clean, place them in a brown paper bag and store them in a cool, dark spot. Remember to throw out any that are diseased or damaged. Hyacinth bulbs in pots can be left in their containers, stored in a dry, cool spot like your garage, and then planted in the garden in the fall. If you've missed the fall planting window and want to plant hyacinth bulbs in the spring, chill them in the refrigerator for six or more weeks first. In fact, helping spring bulbs bloom is easier than you think with this gardening hack.