An Experiment

Last spring, a friend brought me some tulip bulbs her brother, a landscaper, had purchased the previous fall, but not planted. I was skeptical, but I planted the in pots and urns in my garden. They bloomed nicely, as reported in this post:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1301564/

Since I have previously forced bulbs to go in my urns (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1050342/), so this year, I decided I'd try chilling the bulbs in my garage and plant them in early March, to see if I could use this much easier method.

Unfortunately, the weather in early March was not conducive to planting (it was at or near zero for several days!), so here we are, the first day of Spring, and I just planted my bulbs in urns. I'll report on the progress and my success (or failure). I planted these urns with 'Princess Irene' tulips, a favorite of mine.

I planted this urn with 'Monte Carlo' tulips. Although all of the bulbs were stored under the same conditions, the 'Monte Carlo' bulbs looked weaker and less viable. I planted pansies in the urn, on top of the bulbs, in case not all of the bulbs sprouted. Time will tell.

Nicely done.
Post more photos when the tulips are in bloom.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this urn turns out. Your experiments always turn out wonderfully.

Thanks, Annette! I'm not sure all of my experiments work, but I'll report the results regardless.

That's a really beautiful urn, Leawood Gardener! Is it antique?

I had good luck this year planting a couple left over tulips in pots. I stored them in the garage and they have grown through the soil surface, so I think they will make it! :)

The cast iron urns are all antique, the limestone urn was new 6 years ago. I just checked and the first bulbs are poking their noses out of the soil in the urns.

They're beautiful! I am working on restoring a pair of old urns right now. There's over 100 years of ugly paint on them that I am removing. :)

Here's how the bulbs look today - less than I'd hoped for, but at least they lived. It was only an experiment. I think I'll return to my previous method of forcing the bulbs in pots and sinking them into the ground for the winter, then placing the pots in the urns in early March.

I'm really glad they lived.. and it looks like they did more than "just" live - they are beauties!! I love that colour, it's so rich. BRAVO!! =)

I agree, I love the rich color of the tulips. I'm glad they bloomed for you.