How to Pickle Paperwhites

Paperwhite narcissus can cheer up winter-weary rooms with their blossoms and heavenly scent. Easy to force into bloom indoors, these flowers have only one setback: they grow on long stalks. The blooms often cause the stalks to flop over, spoiling the effect. Staking the flowers is one solution, but that can detract from the flowers' beauty as well. William B. Miller, a professor of horticulture at Cornell University, and undergrad student Erin Finan tackled the problem and confirmed the folk wisdom that adding alcohol to the flowers' water would keep the stalks at least 1/3 shorter.

Things You'll Need

• Paperwhite bulbs
• Dish
• Pebbles
• Alcohol

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Arrange paperwhite bulbs, pointed side up and touching, in the dish.

   • 2

     Place pebbles in the dish around the bulbs to hold them in place.

   • 3

     Add water until it's touching the bottom of the bulbs.

   • 4

     Pour the water out of the dish when the green shoots from the bulbs are 2 inches tall.

   • 5

     Dilute one part isopropyl alcohol with 10 parts water and add to the dish in place of the plain water.