Arab's Eye

Melbourne's weather has been getting cold lately and its not even winter yet. Usually we get this sort of weather from May onwards but somehow winter decides to come early this year.

So much so that some of my bulbous plants are starting to sprout like these Ornithogalum Arabicum or commonly known as Arab's Eye. Usually I'll plant these out in mid May but I don't think they'll be able to wait till then.

So what better way to spend my Sunday afternoon than to plant out these excellent spring flowering plants. Last year I did a post on planting petunia, today I'll show you how to plant flowering bulbs in containers. I used a plastic pot for this occasion and premium quality potting mix (always use premium quality mix if you want good quality results). I mixed in some fertiliser for bulbs which is high in potassium to encourage better flowers.

Place the bulbs on top of the mix leaving some spaces between them for growth. Some people might think this is too close but I've never had any problem and it will give a more compact display of the flowers later in Spring.

Simply back fill to cover the bulbs but not all the way to the rim of the pot so that when you water the pot it will create a reservoir of water, soaking the soil as the water drains away. Keep the pot in a sunny position to get some warmth during the winter months. Only water when the mix is looking rather dry. And that's it!


Come spring time in October they will reward you with beautiful long lasting white flowers with black centers giving them the name of Arab's Eye! This picture was taken 2 years back but they are from the bulbs I've just shown you.