Bulbs: keeping forced bulbs, 2 by LeawoodGardener

LeawoodGardener wrote:
I've always heard that forced bulbs cannot be re-used because they won't bloom, so for years, I tossed them after they were spent. A few years ago I forced tulips and tete'a'tete narcissus in pots to use in my planters on the patio. I started a few extra narcissus in individual peat pots, in case I needed something to tuck in around the edge. When they were up and ready to put in the planters, I had a few left over, so I gave them to a fellow gardener whose garden was on a garden tour that spring. He was delighted to have them and used them in an urn in the center of his garden. The following spring he said, "What variety is that little narcissus you gave me last year? When I took apart the urn, I planted the bulbs in a bed and they are blooming now - I want to order more!"

Encouraged by his comment, I decided to try my luck with tulips. That year I forced double yellow tulips to go in a pot on my patio. When the blooms were spent, I pulled out the pot of bulbs and placed it in the shade, near my compost pile. I continued watering the bulbs until the foliage died down, then I let the pot dry out. I pulled out the bulbs and set them in a cool dark spot in the basement. In the fall, I planted them in a border. The following spring I was excited to see they not only bloomed, but were as robust as they were the first time they bloomed.