So how many bulbs are you ordering for fall planting?

How many total bulbs do you anticipate planting this fall? Just curious what the typical consumer buys for fall planting fun.

3,055. ordered from scheepers. planted 1800 last year. actually i didn't total this years until i saw this. i thought i had ordered less this year. lol
this year i ordered more things i liked from last and some new things to try.
i realized i had to have more 'big' flowers that show up. crocus don't show too well unless they're yellow. of course i had predominately purple. and when they say good for rock gardens, they mean they are itsy bitsy and you better have white pebbles to show up well.
muscari shows well even though it's smallish though.

LOL! Well now I'm not feeling bad about ordering just over 1000! I did want to try the purple crocus though.

What is your method for planting so many bulbs? Do you plant in rows, clusters, or ?? Do you dig one big hole, sprinkle bulbs, and then cover with dirt? Or dig each by hand?

last year I tilled and planted in rows. I had so many they were all over the house and i didn't have time to sort out. just grabbed a bag and planted until finished. that's not the way i will be doing it this year.
this year i will till and rake back soil, mix bulbs and then bury.

they don't look good planted in rows like a vegetable garden. the bloom times were so spread out feb-may. and grass and weeds grow, makes very difficult. patchy looking depending on what is in bloom. itsy bitsy next to taller. haphazard. the only thing i can pray for is that they all reproduce outside the rows and intermingle better.
the purples crocus especially the dark purple with orange stamens look surreal. when you are right on top of them. don't see from distance. yellows and oranges see far away blues purples close or have a huge amount.

i bought every contraption there was for bulbs i think in advance of the planting.
small handheld bulbplanter. tall step-on bulbplanter. bulb auger you put on drill.
then i decided if i was to have them planted before spring that i would have to break down and buy a rototiller.much easier.
actually i had 1600 something from mailorder and planted, then got addicted and purchased additional bulbs from garden centers the one's i later decided i 'needed'.
this year i'm going to till also and this time i will be throwing grass seed on top of bed after planted. i hope the grass seedlings will crowd some of the weeds that inevitably have opportunity when the ground is tilled and also the mixing of bloom times i hope helps.
Laura, what bulbs will you be planting?

mmmmmm lets see

lots of daffodils (doubles mostly), hyacinths, babiana, allium, reblooming bearded irises, ranunculus, tulip, sparaxis, oxalis, tritonia!

I think thats all.....

i didn't order enough daffodils, hyacinths, or allium last year.
i don't need anymore bearded iris as i just divided and replanted a few weeks ago.
i think they were the never bloom variety!lol actually maybe about 4 blooms 2 varietes.
i don't know how many wheelbarrow loads i planted. very overcrowded. maybe 40 yrs for all i know. so i really don't know what i have.
the other bulbs you have are out of my zone or I don't know what they are.
what kind of tulips did you get?

Hi Len
The tulips are called Double Renown and I found them at what I thought was a very reasonable price at Michigan Bulb.

Then after that I found the watchdog section here and saw that a lot of people have been unhappy with Michigan Bulb.....so now I'm a little worried about the quality and timeliness of the bulbs.

I ordered 50.

have you ever tried johnscheepers.com? they have a sister compnay also, van engelen
for larger orders. that's where i get mine. reasonable large slection and have had no problems.

Ordering spring bulbs from:
They specify which ones do not come up a second year. We have been disappointed by tulips et al, that don't come up again. Some aren't supposed to. Species tulips, yellow Muscari, etc.
www.colorblends.com
Fall croci from:
http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/summer/
Some fall Croci flower first, usually the wind blows them over unless they are planted in a bed of other plants. Some get leaves first and can stand alone.

wow I don't belong on this thread. I thought buying 25-50 was "over the top", lol. I plan to get a few species tulips that are supposed to do well in my area, a few daffs, crocus and hyacinths. If I find an amaryllis I can't live w/o, I will get it.

The big chunk of my plant money is going to lilies, now that I've discovered they like Richmond, TX, woohoo!

You youngin's can have your 1,000's of bulbs... actually you can plant them in my yard.. lol (oh, my aching back) wish I could dig. I want some foxtail lilies and maybe a couple dozen tulips, I've been eyeing the multi blooms on 1 stem type... I've been looking at all the catalogs and oogling, but then I remember I can't dig and get up and down off the ground much with my bad knees. I need to place my Scheepers order soon.. thx for the reminder. My plant money is going to a greenhouse. I WILL have one within the next couple of years. I want a nice permanent one, that will grow old with me. A couple years ago I bought 4 different variegated foliage ones and they've done well coming back. They were Gregori type or something... The lily-type did not, though. This one is Red Ridinghood?, maybe..

They have dibbers* and augers"
http://www.colorblends.com/Gardening+Tools,63dc49d973db8486e0f6f44c9568a17a

*good scrabble word

I was eyeing those auger type... I have a drill.... If could find a long one, and maybe different sizes, I could drill small and big holes.... oh, yes 'auger' would use a lot of vowels.. I'll remember that one, DD thinks she's better at Scrabble than me (ha)... The link didn't work, I can google it . . But I'm still not buying 1,000 bulbs! :)

I bought the 24" long. It should save some bending.

That would be perfect, I'm not very tall. DD and I visited the Newport Aquarium earlier this spring, very nice! I like the penguins, best.

I usually plant 500 give or take a few. This year won't be any different. Mostly tulips, as I love them and they come back well here.

Okay, now you guys are making me want bulbs! Do they sell the auger bit at Lowes? Guess I should start with the bit, before I order the bulbs! (Bunch of enablers over here on the bulb forum, B mumbles) lol

Hi everyone. I placed an order for 50 tulips and 25 daffodils. Nowhere near the 1000s some of you will plant, but for me, it's enough, lol...

I've used an auger bit to make the holes for 2 seasons now, and it's GREAT! Actually, my DH drills the hole, and I plop the bulb in. We go along like that together and in no time, everything is planted.

I also dust the surface of the soil with black pepper, crushed red pepper, and red pepper flakes. I've used each one by itself, and it doesn't work as well. For some reason, it works best if you use all 3 kinds of pepper. It keeps all the critters away. I haven't lost a single bulb yet, and squirrels run rampant around here. They'll dig down about an inch, and quickly abandon their attempt! lol...

Thanks for the inspiration, Karen. I may try the pepper trio, too. Now where do I get one of those DH's to drill the holes? lol Your order sounds more like mine, but I'd love to see pics of the yards before and after of those who are planting thousands.

Those bulb augers work best in garden beds, or in fairly loose soil. I naively thought I could use one to drill into my lawn (grass on clay) to plant daffs... hahahahahaha. Somebody did suggest that I'd probably get better torque with a corded drill than with the cordless one I was using. This year, I think I'll dig up little patches with my new Mantis minitiller (which I love).

In the past few years, I've put over 1000 bulbs in each year, and it sounds like I'm in good company here! (To be honest, over half of those are usually "little bulbs" -- not much of a challenge to tuck into a border or put in as you're planting the larger bulbs.) Last year, I think my total was over 2000, but about half of those went into my parents' and my in-laws' yards. :-)

I've got a lot of wintersown perennials in flats to plant out this fall, so I'm not sure how many bulbs I'll order... I may restrain myself and then reward myself if I get my other planting done by splurging during the fall sales.

Splurging on the fall sales! What fun! I must get a Mantis... a friend is able to borrow one from his friend, I should try it and see if we get along.

Wow..I have to show hubby this thread. He thought that I was over-doing it by buying 300 bulbs for a 1/5 acre lot. It's really not that many. I ordered lots of daffies, hyacinths (Blue Jacket and Carnegie for a blue and white garden), foxtails, and a few tulips, muscari and snow drops. This is the first year that I'm trying Brent and Becky's Bulbs. I've heard they're great and I loved their selection.

They are good, velnita. I wish they would all send me my stuff sooner, but I understand they are dealing with thousands of people, besides myself. Have you grown Foxtails, before? I want to get some, but I'd like them to last more than one year....

Glad to hear I am not crazy. When I told a neighbor I was planning to plant 1000 bulbs. He wnated to know if there is a diagnosis for my illness and if there is any known cure. I am going to use the the Drill. Any chance to use a power tool is always exciting to me. The Color Blends catalog described a method that involved digging a square and then putting the dirt on plywood then placing the bulbs in the site and sliding the dirt off the plywood back over the site. They timed each step. Sounds interesting but I plant around perennials and other bulbs.

I'm up to 1400 now thanks to all the enablers here at DG!

I can quit anytime I want to.....

This will be my first year trying foxtails. I've read that they need protection from wind and do not like their roots messed with after they're planted. I know it make take a few years for them to mature. Any advice would be very welcome.

I've showed hubby this thread to prove that I'm not crazy.

To the people who are planting over 1000 bulbs: what kinds of bulbs are you planting?

I am partial to little plants, particularly with glossy foliage. Narcissus jonquila is only 5" tall. Recent decades nice bulbs have crossed with larger ones. I like lots of little ones. The large ones are frequently blown over.
http://www.paghat.com/narcissushillstar.html
My boo boo was Crocus speciosus. The leaves come after the flower so it needs support.

Velnita,
I am planting

daffodils
tulips
lilies
crocus
grape hyacinths "plumosum"
white spanish bluebells
daylilies
foxglove
chasmanthe
eremerus
ranunculus

trying a bit of everything~

So far, I've ordered about 2000 bulbs. That's if you include the 300 or so fall crocuses.

Where I live, I love those things that bloom extremely late (into october and, if I'm lucky, early november) and extremely early (Last year I had Iris reticulata blooming on the south side of my house on March 15!), So I really go in for the Snow Crocuses and Dwarf Irises.

Mostly I plant these in my lawn (it usually hasn't woken up before the crocuses are blooming) by inserting a shovel three times at right angles, then digging and lifting from the fourth side to make a square hole in the sod. I loosen the soil. In this I'll arrange a variety of bulbs - about half all one kind of crocus, for example - and the rest mixed, so it doesn't look like a grid when they come up. Water, pop the sod back on top - and water again...

Oh yeah - this year I'm thinking of using a step on bulb planter. Anyone have a recommendation of a good sturdy one for use in the lawn?

I think I'll get a nice natrual looking arrangement if I make a hole everywhere I see a dandelion and replace it with one or two crocuses...

I only planted 450 or so last year, but am up to about 1400 this year - but about 300 of mine also are minor bulbs like crocuses. Lots of daffodils and lilies, hyacinths (several colors!), and Dutch irises. Some tulips as well, but those are annuals for me so I try not to do too many of those. Scheepers has some great buys and nice bulbs.

amazar, in my experience the shovel works a lot better than the step on bulb planters.
actually the tiller works better. if you don't have extremely soft, tilled earth forget it.maybe someone else has had better luck. i tried all the gadgets and broke down and bought a tiller, plus i had just too many to plant one at a time.

Len123,
I'm naturalizing many of these (Crocuses, dwarf irises, muscari, chionodoxa) in my lawn. Those and daffodils and tulips also go in existing perennial beds. I don't really want to take a tiller to either the lawn or the perennial beds. The shovel is limited by the width of the blade - it can't make a smaller hole - even if that's what I want.

have you ever tried one of those hand held picks? i don't know what the actual term is but they have a chopper on one end and a cultivator on the other. that little tool is the handiest thing i think i ever bought. good for dividing iris's also.