Too warm to plant?

I have had my tulips and some anemones in the fridge for about 10 weeks now. Had planned to put them out the first part of December, but with the holidays ....... anyway, don't know if I should plant now or wait to see if we get any winter. Temperature today close to 80. Any ideas?
Sharon

Sharon,

You're fine to plant them now. Hopefully this will be over soon (the heat) and they won't come up prematurely. Your tulips still need time to root to bloom properly so I would not wait much longer. I would mulch to deflect the sun's rays and keep the soil cooler.

My eyes about crossed when I read the subject line of this thread! LOL! We had a pretty cold month here, although it's supposed to be unseasonably warm for the next few days, so perhaps my "zone envy" will fade just a bit...

:-D

Thanks Steve - I am planning to put them in an area that is well mulched (ought to make it a lot of fun) so will get them out in the next few days.

Planting tulips in December is just foreign to me... LOL

Sometimes I envy your zone, but not right now with as hot and dry as you've been.

We're having an unusually warm spell right now so I'm happy to report that I finally got the last of my lily bulbs in the day after Christmas. Thought I was going to have to confess to being a 'bad lily mom'.

Godd luck with your tulips. :)

This weather is ridiculous! We are having fires all over the place, and I noticed that my cannas and irises are starting to come up -- and sure as the world, we will have a sudden freeze or ice storm, so now I don't know what to do about those except buy tons of mulch.

Sharon, I always plant my bulbs the week or so after Christmas every year. Sort of my ritual for the let down after Christmas. My dutch irises start coming up in Oct. but n ever bloom early. So have at it. I mulch the best I can and really don't worry too much. Have fun.

Ginny

Ginny,
Had planned to get tulips in the ground this weekend, but didn't make it, so now it is on the schedule for the coming weekend!

I planted most of my tulips just before this heat wave hit (in the 80's again today). Will this heat destroy the blooms?

Siggy

When did you buy these?
Where were they stored?
How deep did you plant them?
Shade or full sun?

Bleek,
I bought and planted them a month ago. They were 85% off so I bought alot. I planted them everywhere full sun, dappled shade and morning sun.

Did you refrigerate the bulbs? I think we have to do that here, but maybe they had been stored in a refrigerated area.

In the South you need to plant the Tulips and most other bulbs the deeper of the suggested depth. So if it says 6-8 inches, then plant them 8 inches deep.

Also, if you buy them this late, like early December, it might have been better to keep them refrigerated and plant them the middle of January.

Buying them from a Company "up North" this late could be that they were stored in cooler temperatures for a period of time.

All in all, I would keep my fingers crossed and say the "Gardener's Prayer" and be happy of you get some color.

Well I'll know better next year :-)

I planted a peony I got from Maxine in a trade and it has nine shoots coming up and most of them have flower buds. The ones I had from last year are fortunately not coming up yet. LOTS of daffodil leaves poking through also, though most only a couple of inches so far. I will have to cover the peony when the inevitable freeze or snow comes. Stownes is right, this is pretty jacked up!!!! Hopefully it will get cold soon.

Moby, the worst thing about our weather is there is no consistency - it is up and down like a yo-yo - though mostly up lately!

Yeah Steve, I know just what you mean. Been a weird weather year all the way around.

Cannot believe - I found a bag of daffodil bulbs in the greenhouse that I had forgotten about and they are sprouting!! I am tempted to just put them in pots so when the weather does change I can bring them in.

Check this out - Fern Peony I just planted a few weeks ago already coming up.

OMG!!

Geez...I don't guess there's much we can do except lay in big supplies of mulch and wrappings. I figure when it does get cold it will be one of those really sudden things.

stownes
I live in Arlington. I started planting chilled bulbs the week before Christmas. Some are coming up. I think they will be fine with a freeze as long as they are not in bloom. I've had the temperature really change and freeze with frost and even some ice on the unopened buds without harm. Once the flower opens the petals will be damaged by a freeze, but not a light frost. They are pretty tough.

I plant my tulips shallowly: only an inch or two of soil on top. They are annuals for us. I have never had a problem with this practice. I don't know if yours will produce well. If they were not chilled long enough they will produce poorly. Sometimes you get lucky.

Here's wishing you good luck

cynthia

This was early March 2005

Some tulips ups and more on the way

The big pinks are Pink Impression

Oh, those tulips are so pretty! Hope mine do well. Noticed I have daffodils coming up.
Sharon

Cynthia,

I plan on doing it right next year (hopefully). How long should I chill my bulbs? And where is a good place to buy bulbs?

Thanks,
Siggy

I plant a lot of tulips. There are about 1000 in this one large bed. Y'all should drive by in the spring. I'll remember to post it here when they start to really show off.

Siggy, you are lucky if you want a lot of bulbs. There's a big bulb-chiller-supplier over in your neck of the woods. The down side, I heard that you have to buy in boxes of 400 of each variety. The price is about the same as unchilled bulbs I buy from Van Engelen online in lots of 100. Of course, you get few varieties to choose from. I lots lots of different ones.

I chill mine in a fridge in the garage. I put those that I planted already in there on October 10th, started planting Dec. 19th. Usually there is still some chill time in the ground in Jan. Not much this year.

I got some at end of season clearance on 11: 21st. They are still in the fridge until sometime next week. We are getting some nice cool nights now and seasonal temps are in the forecast.

Don't want to plant them all at once just in case I lose some

c

Cynthia who is the bulb chiller supplier in my area?

Abbott-Ipco

I got it from this article in DMN
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/fea/home/gardening/stories/DN-nhg_fool_1209liv.ART.State.Edition1.1d9b0ab0.html

I think they sell to landscapers, but was told they may sell to individuals too. I don't know that is the case. The price I "heard" sounded like that of Van Engelen, but the quantity 400 bulbs and the selection according to the article is limited to about 18 varieties.

North Haven gardens in Dallas also sells pre-chilled bulbs. Who knows, they might have some on sale!
c

Looking at thier website they have quite a variety http://www.abbott-ipco.com/culturalpics.html#tulips
If they carry all of those?
It would be alot more convenient to have them already chilled. The Van Engelen are not prechilled?

Siggy
But you have to buy 400 of one variety. Even planting 2000, that's only 5 varieties!

BTW, I pulled up the North Haven Garden's website, says they have tulips for .30 each. When I was there in the fall, they had them in a cooler. So you might still be able to get some chilled tulips to plant for this spring.

just call me an enabler

cynthia

My gardens are already maxed out for this year.