When to plant Tulip bulbs down here in SC?

I just bought 85 tulip bulbs to put in containers for a spring rotation into my container garden, but I have no clue as to when to plant them down here?

If I'm supposed to wait until after the first of the year, is it ok to store them in the house?

Can anyone point me to a small tutorial on this? lol

SCNewbie,
I was going to tell you that "I" was told not to plant them until the ground cooled off, but I don't know about in a container. Have you asked in the Container Gardening Forum? Maybe they'd know. I think they need some kind of "chill" time, but not sure how much or how long.
Margo

put them in the refridgerator. we always planted ours around christmas, sometimes thanksgiving. if you want flowers next year, you'll have to dig them all up and put them in the refridgerator in june, and plant them in late falll or early winter next year. if you dont chill them in the refridgerator, only a few will come up and bloom each year, less and less, until they disappear in like 3 yrs

I did get a response in the Container forum, if anyone wants to read it - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/780410/ - it was quite helpful.

Diehrd - You're a bit more south than I am. ;) I'm on the border of 7b/8a so I should be cooler than you are, right?

Catmad - You're not too far from me. It's not cool enough to plant them yet, right? Do you know about what time our first hard frost is?

when i lived in Lexington, 8a, that is how we did it. we have not even tried those down here. we started doing amaryllis instead

Ohhh, ok. Thanks for that info, then. :)

SCnewbie wrote;"Catmad - You're not too far from me. It's not cool enough to plant them yet, right? Do you know about what time our first hard frost is?"

I'm about 1/4" north and an inch east of the city of Anderson on my map *G*. Depending on the source, our first frost should be between Oct 9 and November 1. Take your pick. I'm hoping for later, my tomatoes have found a second wind :). My tulips came with instructions to wait until the ground is below 55 degrees, so I'm waiting. I wasn't going to try tulips, but had two appear this spring, so I'm going for it. I suspect the former owners of the house simlpy tilled under the "old" garden when they "improved" the yard. Odd things are beginning to pop up in unexpected places.....

LOL Ooooooh! That's really close to Anderson, huh?!?!? lolololol

I'm in So Anderson, not that it matters any when it comes to this tulip thing. Shoot, I didn't realize first frost came that soon. I hope later, too, 'cus I have a Dat just putting on buds and I have so many plants to get in the ground!

This message was edited Oct 15, 2007 2:11 PM

Pelzer is at the juncture of 20 and SR 8 *g*. I've been trying to find out when the first frost was last year, and I just don't remember. If I figure it out, I'll post. My brugs didn't make it in the ground this year, either so I guess it's the garage for them again :(. I have Irises and daylilies to get settled in, too....