Have you planted any spring-blooming bulbs yet?

I need to get the rest of mine in the ground, but every time I plan to, it rains some more.

I have about 200 bulbs to plant (mostly tulips, several pots of rescued muscari, a few fritillarias and nectoscordum); I did get 150+ daffodils planted among my daylilies a few weeks ago.

Just waiting for a chance to get out there when the ground isn't sopping wet!!!

Hi go_vols, I have the same problem! I might need to build an ark! I can't plant my Fall veggies outside yet either, so they remain in peat pots for now. LOL...at least the drought- depleted aquifers and lakes are getting a much-needed chance to refill. :) Thanks for small blessings.

On top of that, I've found that any crocuses, tulips, or edible bulbs planted before the first frost will be dug up and eaten by hungry critters! And most bulbs here won't bloom unless pre-chilled for a couple weeks (minimum) before planting. Narcissus and Irises are two exceptions.

So why do I bother? I love colorful flowers in early Spring!

Best,
Grovespirit

I didn't know how to answer this one either: I have had one very light frost (last night), but the ground certainly isn't frozen; my spring bulbs were planted (or re-planted) in the spring, or whenever the stupid squirrels dig them up. I did pot up a few hyacinths and tulips and muscari to have them blooming indoors this winter, and they are being pre-chilled now. Does that qualify?

35 pastel Asiatic lilies and 25 Dutch iris. Hoping they all bloom around the 3rd week in June when the local garden tour stops here. Someone said, if there are weaknesses in the garden, create strong focal points to draw the eye away from them.

I still have some to plant.

I hope to be doing that Tuesday or Wednesday...

My wife and I planted about 100 crocus bulbs in our urban garden. They were promptly dug up and consumed by squirrels. Live and learn. So I fabricated wire cages. Then we planted a lot of casablanca lillies. While I was digging those in, a tattooed guy in an apartment up above opened his window and yelled, "Hey, you wit da shovel." I was ready for the typical city complaint. "Yeah?" I yelled back. "I bought dese for ya." He dropped a few bags of tulip and crocus bulbs to me from his third floor kitchen window. Live and learn.

New York City.

I have only about a dozen and a half narcissus to plant, which shouldn't take long. I have spent the last two days setting pansies in every pot I could find. I bought yellow and purple pansies to set in a bed in the front yard. They should bloom off and on all winter. I bought more pansies to plant in pots on the front terrace and back deck, but I bought too many. If they do well, I should have lots of color around the house.

Mine are planted, we have had 3 nights down to 5 degrees and every night for the past 2 weeks has been below freezing, but the ground is not frozen, it is too dry.

This has reminded me to get on with it! Have planted some, but still some waiting. Sunny day today so out i go.....

Lovely story Aotearoa, lol!

That is a great story, Aotearoa! (I'm guessing he wasn't aiming for your head as he dropped them, lolol!)

We have a squirrel problem here, too - hence the daffs and no crocus. Not sure how my tulips will fare; I might have to learn to sleep on my front porch with a trusty bb gun every night until spring ;0)

The squirrels here don't stand a chance, the moles beat them to them. They have wiped out every daff, tulip, hyacinth and crocus I have ever planted. :0(

Cajunace, it looks like you need wire cages to plant the bulbs in, I hear that works. Aotearoa, great story, have you ever met the neighbor?

I'm forcing lots of bulbs for the Holidays. The rest are in "chilling" as they tend to sprout really quick when you have very little winter. ;-)

MaryE ~~~

We nodded to each other on the street this morning. But, I made a point of planting his contribution to my little slice of paradise where he'll be able to spy on it while he sips his morning beer. Maybe we'll speak by Easter?

Welcome to my world ;~)

Hi Bettie, Love Pansies and all those great faces they have.I'm in zone 8 and my Pansies in the ground look great in 3' of snow "Mabe once or twice a year". The potted on covered porches do well also.That has been the main winter flowers I put out and they have always done well. Enjoy! Aotearoa,that is really great about NYC. That many people in in one city would drive me crazy,just goes to show you never really know people do ya? My daughter is a flight attendent and NYC even makes her nervous and she is the city type girl! Think I'll just stay in the country and grow some more weeds! Take Care

I have gotten about 300 Daffodil bulbs planted that a friend gave me. She grows them at her place and then gives them to churches and hospitals and such to plant for spring cheer. This year she picked me for a few of them. Next year she plans on repeating the gift. Happy Dancing here. Lani

I have all mine planted. Just hoping I got them in early enough before it got cold and snowy.

Aotearoa, I loved your story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Your neighbor must enjoy your gardens. What a great feeling that must be.

In reference to Aotearoa's story about his neighbour, just proves you can't always judge a book by it's cover. Sounds like you have a lovely garden Aotearoa, I'll have to look up Casablanca Lillies, I don't know what they look like but they sound nice.
FP

I'm turning some of our raised beds into flower beds instead of veggie beds. At least for the winter. I plant tulips and other critter attractive bulbs in either aqua baskets(fine mesh plastic baskets that can go into water or be buried in the dirt)or regular nursery puts. I put chicken wire over the top to keep squirrels out of them if they see to be becoming a problem. I still have several iris and daylilies to get planted.
Planting anything else in your daylily bed can be dangerous to the other plants. Daylilies are very invasive, agressive plants which grow right over top of bulbs preventing them from coming thru in the spring and summer. I've had to dig up several such disasters in the past few years. this past summer I had only 4 or 5 stalks of Magic Lilies where there should have been 20 or more. Daylilies had grown over them so they had to be removed.

I'm new to DG, and will soon be graduating with a BS in Horticulture. I was thrilled to find such a friendly website with so many enthusiastic gardeners like me!

Aotearoa - I hope to move in or near NYC, hope I get a neighbor like yours! That was really nice of you to plant them despite your own garden design plans. Best of luck!

Oh, flowerpot...I am not usually fond of lilies. But CASABLANCA! OH! When I worked in a flowershop (eons ago), I saw my first Casablanca. What a beautiful pure white lily!

I went GAGA!

Uh.., hang on..., you mean gardens are supposed to be..., err..., designed?

smc0213 and aotearoa, Welcome to Dave's Garden. Lovely to have some more garden lovers onboard.
I identify with Aotearoa, what design. I just move the things until I like what they look like. LOL
I planted another 100 bulbs today. My yard will be wonderful come spring.

evelyn_inthegarden or Aotearoa I can't find Casablanca in the plant data my pc is so slow all I've found so far is day lillies could you hyperlink me to a picture of one? Ha ha ha I also do not have any design just hope I keep the talls one to the back so I can see the shorter ones.
FP

www.geocities.com/urbanonion/htmls/casablanca_lily.htm

I think this should take you to a nice image of a Casablanca Lily.

Well I received 60 tulip bulbs for my birthday..planted 30 of them in an old wheelbarrow, with oodles of protection from the squirrels and their friends...still have the rest to dig in somewhere! no frozen ground as yet! Elaine

Aotearoa thank you it's very pretty and I've added it to my have to have list.
Hi there 1601 I didn't think it got cold enough for your ground to freeze out there? What a good idea planting bulbs in a wheelbarrow.

I've already planted my new ones for this winter and we already have paperwhites blooming. They seem to bloom for about 2 months and then again in the spring. The squirrels here don't seem to eat our blubs, there is so much fruit and nuts for them to eat from the neighborhood they must be full. The problem with the squirrels is that they dig in everything to hide the nuts. We have had walnuts come up all over our backyard, even in the small planters on the patio. But after reading all your commitments I'm happy all they do is plant.

I live in zone 9 and there are no winters here. I planted lilly bulbs about a month ago and some all up and some have buds. Wish I could grow tulips out side. all this green is sometimes a little much.

The grass is greener on the other side...heh, heh...

Actually, I like winter. I grew up in Sothern Calif. No snow there...(except in the mountains, and that is only in vacation spots)

I enjoy my spring bulbs here, except when the deer eat them. I REALLY like living in the "country" here...

A few weeks ago I have completed my bulb planting for this year. Thanks to the great bulb co-op, trades, and purchases I just couldn't resist, I put in around 900 bulbs this year. I already had a good start, usually do a couple hundred a year, but went gonzo this year. Lots of new beds and borders. Fortunately, our squirrels have lots of cornfields to eat, now if anyone can find a solution to deer and rabbits, short of a chain link fence, I'd be delerious!! Against my better judgement, I planted around 150 tulips, tried to keep them as close as possible to the house, or I can't have any, deer love them, just when the bud is fat.........Used lots of daffs and fritillaria. Can't wait for spring!!!! Legit

Ugh! You people are not very encouraging! I just bought a place in the country in Zone 4 after living in a very urban Zone 9. I guess I shouldn't expect much to happen with the 250 bulbs I planted, huh?

Greenflora, I'm a zone 9er, too, although we do get a winter her (brrr - it was 60*F yesterday!shiver, shiver!) and there are a few types of tulips that will "sorta, kinda, mostly" come back for a few years. I have a neighbor that seems to have pretty good luck with species tulips. I bought some "unknown" red tulips a few years ago from Home Depot, and they bloomed wonderful the first year, kinda so-so the 2nd, and then I didn't get blooms the next few years although the foiliage would come up. Then, surprize, surprize, a few bloomed this spring. I also have done the lift and chill in the fridge rutine - we used to have a "soda fridge" in the garage that we never put any ethelene producing veggies in. I'd put paper bags of dug bulbs in there for a few months before planting. That was VERY labor intensive, though, and haven't done that for a while. Check out some of the sellers on the garden watch-dog area - many have "sort by zone" features, and you will see some that there are actually some tulips and daffodils that are zoned for 8 or 9... wish we had green here - it's mud from Dec-Feb, green in March & April, and then promptly turns brown with the first 100*F scorcher in mid-May ;-) Guess that's why I'm moving back to The South in a few years (less than two!!!). Miss year-round green ;-)

How can you people plant 100's of bulbs without going into a back clinic the next day? I plant a few, but it seems to be hard on my back, anyway. I also have a gardener who occasionally helps with bulb planting or transplanting. I'm zone 10 so mine are still chilling.

Am in the midst of planting 500 bulbs..it's warmed up for 3 days, so have to hustle. About the back problems..I bought a stand up-bulb planter this year. And for the squirrels, I wrapped each bulb in steel wool..hopefully they won't like the taste. Living in a city, you have to outsmart the critters..hope this works.Am not wrapping some just to test if it works.

I was wondering about those bulb planters if they can really save your back or if the ground is hard, is it just as much work to use them as to dig a hole with a sharp spade? I have found things like raking and so on are bad for my back as well, even if I am standing, but I have a bad back, and knee.

Get a large dog, in your yard, they love to chase squirrels away. Be sure to get a breed that likes to hunt small animals. You can save a dog's life at the local pound. No squirrel dares to come into Lion's yard.
He is a Chow Chow with German Shepard and he loves small rodents. Every time I take him to Petsmart Super Store he goes nuts over the hamsters.

I've planted, and replanted over 200 bulbs this year. I just looked for a place and popped them into the ground. SWMBO nearly went daft when she saw the delivery of the new bulbs, and asked where I was going to put them, but she was more than surprised when she saw the last 5 disappear into the ground.

I don't even remember what was where now, since I just got my head down and dug them all in. The only bulbs whose location I am sure of are the lilies, and 1 crinum, since I dug them up extra to replant against a wall.

I like surprises too, so I'll be really excited come Spring ...lol

All the best

Wintermoor

P.S. here's a wee photo of me just finishing my planting in true Wintermoor style ;-)

It's been like the swaps here in TX. We finally had a nice sunny week-end. I planted all types of Iris's, daffodil's, crocus and hyacinth's. I used a standing bulb planter. I bought at Walmart for 10 bucks. I am so glad I did. Well this is my first year planting bulbs and after reading the responses I had no idea your had to chill before planting. I planted over 100 bulbs. Now I hope & get some flowers.

If your winter is not cold enough you need to prechilll, but the refrigator must not contain fruits or vegtables or they will be ruined.