A Rite of Winter . . .

Every fall when I order bulbs for the garden, I order paperwhites  for January bloom.     For I simply adore paperwhites.    I even like their aroma!

And paperwhites are easy . . . for I just take

My bulb bowl, add bulbs and water . . . and in a short time I have

A bowl filled with blooming paperwhites that scent the breakfast room.     For that's where I grow them and where I keep them.

It's a blue and white bowl that I bought in a museum shop 6 or 7 years ago because I saw them in magazines and liked the look of the bulbs in them.

But, alas, I decided that I needed more than one bulb bowl.    I searched Ebay to no avail.    I googled and came up empty handed.     There was, I figured, no more of these bowls to be found -- either new or used!

And then I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website.    And guess what I found!!!!   I ordered two more.     They are duplicates of my first one (can you believe that after seven years!).     I stagger the planting times so that for a good six weeks I have blooming paperwhites in the winter.

And in previous years I've used other bowls and pots and even terra cotta pots to grow the bulbs in -- but I always thought they looked best in the bulb bowl!     And now for those six weeks the bulbs will look splendid in the proper bowls!

It's Monday and I'm joining Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Met Monday.    There is no metamorphosis greater than going from a bulb to a blooming plant!