The boy came up with a science experiment for school to test a theory about colored water hindering plant growth. As he is brilliant (well, I am his mother), he of course turned to me for advice. He needed 30 test subjects. At first I considered leaf lettuce, but that sounded difficult and unreliable. Then I hit on the perfect solution: paperwhites in water. Not only is it less messy than plants in potting soil, it also eliminates any variables, stripping the experiment down to its essence.
Being the helpful mom that I am, I duly ordered Narcissus 'Wintersun' from Brent & Becky's Bulbs. (There is no way I was going to tolerate in my house 30 stinky paperwhites such as 'Ziva'.) I also procured plastic cups and stones. On the left is the control group of plain water, while the test subjects are in yellow-colored water and blue. The bulbs got left in the box a bit too long, as they arrived before we went to Mexico over the holidays, and he didn't want to run the experiment while we were gone. They'll straighten out, and I'll get to enjoy lots of paperwhites. Don't you just love science? I'll report his conclusions at the end of the experiment.