Has anyone in Houston purchased and grown the daffodils sold by the bag at Sams? From experience, I've learned the hard way that few daffies perennialize here but at $15 for 50 bulbs, it is worth reconsidering.
Thanks for your input
Houstonians and bulbs from Sams Wholesale
I dont seem to be able to grow daffs tho they grow wild in the pastures. My paperwhites thrive.
If you try them, you should chill them in your refrigerator first.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/bulbs.html
I was thinking about daffies. I don't think they need to be refrigerated and the link you provided says so. Did I miss something?
But, Im thinking these bagged daffies are King Alfreds which may be a good annual at best.
If somebody that actually bought the Sams bags grew them, pls share your experience. Might keep some from wasting their $$$
I am in Pflugerville, which is at the northeast corner of Austin. I bought the bag of 100 King Alfreds 2 years ago and spread them in several different locations in my yard. About 15 came up the first year, maybe 8 of them bloomed. Two came up this year and didn't bloom at all, but it has been a very strange year for some of my other plants too. I'm thinking that it was a waste of time and money.
At Lowe's, Home Depot, nurseries, etc. I see daffodils sprouted in small pots early in the spring making me think that they are selling them as an annual. I'm not trying any more because I don't see any in my neighborhood blooming either. Tulips are even a worse investment here also.
I have had very good results with Daffs in Sugarland, south of Houston. They were not from SAMs. I did see some very attractive spring collections at Costco. For about 15 bucks cannot go wrong.
Can we keep this as a Houston area link? Our growing pattern are somewhat different.
Regards
Everybody is welcome to chime in though I am looking for experience from Houston gardeners.
I grow hundreds of a few tried-and-true daffies in my garden but had never tried the Sams package. I'm not too optimistic that these are perennial type bulbs for us, but all I can do is ask and get input in the TX forum. It bogles my mind, though, that they would sell these packets year after year, with people buying when nothing is going to happen. What a con and a waste of time for seller and buyers alike (in our area). I wonder on whose recommendation are these being offered for sale here. Maybe from a nostalgic and very optimistic northerner, lol.
I think you waste your money buying daffodil bulbs from big box stores period. They just do NOT bring in the right cultivars for the Houston area as a rule. There are some wonderful bulbs that do well here without the need for refrigeration. Try to go to the annual Houston Garden Club Bulb show where they will have the right bulbs.
Off the top of my head, I can recommend 'Carleton' (a large yellow trumpet) which will naturalize (I've had some for many years) and 'Fortune' (yellow trumpet with orange center). I'm told 'Mount Hood' and 'Ice Follies" do well in the modern, white daffs. They are also some of the smaller daffs which do well here. I recently gave away a huge number of 'Grand Primo' (not available in the trade which is a pity) - which will take partial sun/shade and still bloom, but in Dec/Jan. A good book to learn about bulbs for Texas is Scott Ogden's 'Garden Bulbs for the South' which covers the Gulf Coast environment as well as the general south.
Leslie is right, Scott Ogden's book should be in every serious TX gardener's library.
First off, those big box, big pkg daffies are hit or miss, mostly miss.
Learning about daffies for Houston has been a most EXPENSIVE education. Why? first of all, most, yes, and I mean MOST nurseries overstate the hardiness of daffies for TX gulf coast; so you buy b/c nursery XYZ said "hardy to zone 9" and it just ain't so. Maybe California z9 with cooler evenings, but not TX z9! Shame on most of them for not bothering to be more specific, in the name of the almight $.
For the past 3 years I've purchase exclusively from Old House Gardens. Their reputation means a lot to them so when they say a bulb or plant is good in z9, you can take it to the bank, assuming you are giving plant/bulb proper care, not super human effort, just common sense effort. Local sales, like Bulbmart in Houston are also a great source because it is local and if their bulbs didn't live, their sales would fail. They seem to give serious thought to what they select for their sales. I just don't go there b/c too far for me.
Chris Weisinger is also good, pricey for me, but good and reliable. Maybe I wouldn't be so sensitive about daffie pricing, had it not been b/c I've been fleeced too many darned times, lol
back when I posted this, I was just hopeful that there were indeed bargains. They're not.