Planting spring bulbs early? Zone 7a

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felinist Raleigh, NC Jun 21, 2019

Hi, and thanks in advance for any advice given. I haven't worked with bulbs before, but I'd like to try some spring bulbs for next year. The catch is this, I've recently been rehabbing a part of my garden and I'd like to put them in now, along with the other plants I'm putting in. I know traditional advice recommends you wait until fall, but it would just be easier to do it now. I don't exactly understand why the usual advice is to wait - I put in some annual and biannual seedlings (forget me not and foxglove) at the end of the season last year and they were able to overwinter because they developed roots. Does the same logic apply to bulbs? So my Question is - if I plant my spring bulbs now (tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth - the usual spring suspects), will they come up and flower next spring?

EDIT - sorry, I'm actually Zone 7b if that makes a difference.

This message was edited Jun 21, 2019 12:21 PM

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Audrey Hadley, PA(Zone 5a) Jun 23, 2019

I doubt you could find spring-flowering bulbs now, since most bulb companies don't begin shipping them until September. And they usually ship to the warmer zones later than to the colder ones. That's because spring-flowering bulbs generally do best if planted in cool soil, after the first frost but before the ground freezes. Otherwise, I suspect they might begin trying to sprout immediately--before their necessary cold period.

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kolomikta Somerville, MA Jun 28, 2019

No, they will not flower next spring. They will try to send up sprouts, which will exhaust the bulb and leave it unable to develop adequate roots. The point of planting bulbs in cool or cold weather is to allow it to develop roots without sprouting, thus amassing and conserving energy for sprouting at the proper time.

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