Portfolio: Forcing bulbs is this guy's forte

Art Wolk, the bulb guy from Voorhees, is on a bit of a roll.

His new book, Bulb Forcing for Beginners and the Seriously Smitten, is out just in time for the Philadelphia International Flower Show, which runs from March 4-11 at the Convention Center and where he's got two speaking gigs.

Topic: "Lilies & Tulips & Daffs, Oh My! Using Bulbs to Grow Your Own Winter Flower Show."

This sort of thing gets bulbsters out of bed in the morning. And the take is pure Wolk, who's known almost as much for humor as for horticulture.

This book has both, so if you get too bogged down parsing the 13 daffodil divisions, you can have a laugh over Chapter 6: "Easy Bulbs for Adapt-to-My-House-or-Die Gardeners."

In the foreword, Brent and Becky Heath, well-respected bulb-forcers in their own right who own Brent and Becky's Bulbs in Gloucester, Va., write, "Home gardeners couldn't get information on bulb forcing from a better source." High praise, and true.

Wolk has won 125 blue ribbons at the flower show and he's a two-time winner of its Grand Sweepstakes Award. He has a gift for coaxing into bloom all kinds of bulbs that aren't ready yet. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing; not only does he get them to bloom, but they bloom beautifully, all together now!

And he manages this at exactly the right moment - flower show week.

"It's all about the grey matter between your ears," Wolks writes.

He covers the territory - daffodils, tulips, arisaemas, lilies, and hyacinths. You know hyacinths, those thick, sweet-smelling bulbs that, like paper whites, can empty a room in no time.

The photos are bright and uncluttered, with vivid backgrounds. Could've done without that close-up of a vole!

This is a self-published book ($32.95), but don't let that stop you. If you're smitten, have a look.

- Virginia A. Smith