need help with what varieties to plant

Live here in Tucson AZ where can freeze a little in winter and over 100 in summer. Would like to know what varieties of bulbs I can plant here which would naturalize and would be fragrant. Iris's do pretty well for me but others I don't know of. Thanks

I'm not a bulb person, nor familiar with your zone. I just find it strange no one has offered suggestions. Unusual for this site.

Also no where near your zone. From what I've read here and in catalogs, you will have to buy bulbs that have been refrigerated for x number of months in order to get them to bloom. Then after blooming, you have to either dig them up and give them another cold period to repeat blooming or buy new bulbs that have been given the cold treatment already. I think bulbs are a lot of work for southern growers. We just pretty much throw them in the ground and they grow! On the other hand, you can grow a whole lot of tropicals that have to be babied in greenhouses up here. :) Just read some threads and there are some bulbs that do well in the south. Here's a book Terry recommended.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/297520/

Joanie,

I would try Jonquilla division narcissus such as "Hillstar" (VERY fragrant!)...most Jonquilla/Tazatta narcissus require less cold than other types, and perform well in areas with hot baking summers. I have had pretty good luck with Hyacinths here as well, and they actually like hot dry summers, and looking at your average highs/lows it seems you're cooler than Phoenix and your winter lows are actually lower than I thought and for a longer period in 30's and 40's than I thought. Many spring blooming bulbs actually struggle more in areas of the south that receive a lot of rainfall, since many of them do not do well with humidity or wet boggy soil. We get much more rain than you do, but we get hot smmers as well, and our July/August highs are actually only 2 or 3 degrees cooler than yours, though you seem to heat up much faster in May than we do (but your nights stay cooler longer). Looks like you average about 99 degrees in summer. You can always experiment with a few and see how they do. I'd provide some dappled shade if you can, since I'm sure your sun is quite intense.

Joanie---you may want to look into the bulbs from 'Easy To Grow Bulbs'. They specialize in bulbs for warm climates and are located in Oceanside California Zone 9...

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/3636/

There customer service is excellent and they will be very happy to advise you.

Good luck. t.

Thanks for your suggestions. I will definitely be getting the Hillstar as I love fragrance and will also look up the Easy to Grow Bulbs website.