Planting bulbs late....

It is almost winter and some of my bulbs have just recently arrived, and just before I left town for a week and a half. I know I can wait to plant the tulips last, but what about the daffodils and hyacinth? It has been raining all day, but possibly later this week it is supposed to be dry and then I can plant. Also the weather has been unseasonably warm for fall. I was concerned that they might not have enough winter chill. Should I have refrigerated the bulbs first? Ususally we have enough winter chill, but this year has been different, either warm or rainy.

I would say you can plant them any time up until the ground freezes, but I don't know about your zone - does the ground freeze?

No, our ground does not freeze solid, though we do get frost and snow.

Just like us ~ SNOW.
Our area received 6 inches on Monday.

If you have containers and potting soil, plant the bulbs.
If the snow in your area melts soon, they can be planted in the ground.

Thanks! It hasn't snowed here yet. That was from spring, but it won't be long. I have pots and plenty to mix potting soil if necessary.

I had to plant everything that I had left over in containers. "whew" just made it too.

That's good! I have some very large pots. Mebee I ot'ta start filling them up tomorrow. The ground is really too soggy to plant in right now anyway.

I am still awaiting for one item to arrive.
But I won't hold my breath! LOL.


Grizzly Flats must be a beautiful place in the pines to visit.
Camping must be really serene for a peaceful retreat in the wilderness.
Tahoe is so over crowded and touristy.

We do get people in the summer going up our road to go to the (Cosumnes) river, in their various loud vehicles, but now it is quiet with the exception of barking dogs when I go for my morning walk. Since we have 12 acres, I may resort to walking on the property, but we have neighbors on both side with barking dogs, but not always barking.....

We live actually slightly below Grizzly Flats, as it is 4000' in elevation and we are at about 3500', so we do not get as much snow as they do up the hill. That has been our mailing address, but just recently there is a postal route by the Somerset PO. So we live in Somerset, as that is now our physical address. I suppose it has been for a long time since UPS and FedEx only delivers to a physical address. Somerset has a varied terrain going downhill to about 2000' but I am not sure on all of this as everything here is "hilly".

The main tourist area nearby is Placerville. Then there is Amador and Sutter Creek in the nearby county of Amador, as we are in El Dorado county. (I do not like the touristy atmophere any more than cities...) That is why I wanted to live in the "country". Still, we are 20 miles to the nearest town (Placerville).

I have been to Tahoe Tree nursery but not to yours. I used to have a small retail nursery over 20 years ago, in Pleasant Valley. When the property owner doubled the lease payments on the property, I was unable to keep up, so due to lack of capital, I went out of business. At the time I did no growing of my own, but sold everything I bought in. In the short time I was there, each year I increased sales and even had a net profit by the second year. anyway, I used to buy Quaking Aspens from them.

Where is your nursery located?

Evelyn

Although I'm located down hill a bit from Somerset (500 feet in Sacramento), I still haven't finished working with my bulbs. The ground doesn't freeze here and heavy rains don't usually arrive until January through March or April. I'm still puzzled about why one needs to dig up bulbs every year and store them, then plant them in spring. Perhaps it's just the weather cycle in California?

The bulbs I'm working with have been in the ground some 3 or 4 years and need to be separated. They are mainly in raised beds, and mainly Freesia and Tulips. It's been so warm here that all the bulbs already have sent up foliage. We usually get a few days of frost in January, but this foliage is so low to the ground I doubt it will be damaged. Sometimes we will get several nights of below-freezing weather in a row. That's what causes problems.

From what I've read in this forum, my involvement with bulbs is very different. There are tons of bulbs in this area, but no one digs them up every year. I'm still going to dig up and separate the freesia and tulip bulbs, then replant them almost immediately. I've been working on this medium-size garden now for 1.5 years and have found surprise gifts of bulbs that have been covered up by other plants. So I've dug up these different kinds of bulbs (mainly iris) and will group them together in one area of the garden so they can shine.

If the weather here cooperates and the temperature can stay below 70 degrees, I will l spend several days digging and replanting very soon. If the foliage dries up and drops off before spring, I'll just keep feeding them and hope they build up strength to bloom the following spring. We must have about 200 bulbs in all. I won't know the count until I do more digging and separating.

Hi Neighbor!

mmhere - yes, we are very fortunate to be living in an area where we do not have to dig up bulbs every year. Others do have to do that to keep them from freezing outdoors in colder zones. On the flip side, they have much more luck with cold-hardy plants like Peonies, and their tulips has a better chance of reblooming.

Soils ~ Our ground does not freeze, but tulips do come back here. I have never lifted any bulbs, yet. If I can tho', I think I should lift the tropicals like cannas and callas, as they bloom very late or not at all. I don't have time yet to do that "extracurricular activity".