When Are You Planting Bulbs This Year?

Pirl, I am glad I didn't gobble up your lily, Pink Perfection, as I didn't order any lilies on sale and that you found it somewhere else. I have that one planted and It was very pretty last summer, but no pictures. I don't remember mine being that dark on the outside.

Hemhostaholic needs to change his name to Hemhostabulbaholic. Way to score. Patti

The photo on the site was what caught my eye. Hopefully I'll post photos of it in 2008.

Pirl, Me too, I can't believe with all my zillions of photographs, I failed to take a picture of one of my lily kids. Poor parenting on my part. Patti

Way to go Thom!!

I forgot a few! Shame on me!

Now I sort through photos every day just to pass the winter.

Thom:

When you said "back up to KMart", I imagined you in a pickup truck, backing up to the store to load up on the bulbs. Thanks for the giggle this morning! And, that IS a great score on your part.

PS ~ I can just 'see' the look on Paul's face.

I went to Kmart yesterday looking for the same deal. They didn't have any bulbs, the stinkers. I think my Kmart is a small one, even though it says "Big K" on the outside... I did get a white dress shirt for my son to wear to his orchestra concert for only $8!

Well, that's good! Glad to hear it wasn't a wasted trip for you.
Our KMart went away. There's now a Sears Essentials in its place.
Still, I can do better at Wal*Mart.

Ok...the insanity needs to stop...
Paul was at work, I had my plastic on me, 'nuff said...
I went to KMart, they still had some stuff, but I got what I wanted, and wiped them out of my wants...lol.
I hit HomeDepot and Lowes...between the 2 stores, I spent roughly $40.
The total bulb count is=325
I am so not complaining. I just have to plant them all, should have thought about that before I went bulbonkers...lol.

Seek help Thom!! More importantly - post photos in the Spring!!!

the cat looks like she's telling you just what she thinks of your purchases!

Maybe take a meeting in - bulbanonoymus

boy have I missed some big stuff! Papelbulb! So ya'all DON"T think 'it's too late to be buying more bulbs? Apparently not,,, 'Cause there are some mighty tempting dea;s out there. I want to buy some paperwhites for my dad. x, C

I'm still gonna get some tulip bulbs to force indoors for some early color.

Candyce, I have fourced paperwhites in bloom and have started several other batches with many more to start every week until Feb thanks to Bleek and another source that I had ordered before I did the 4paws/bleek coop.

But I have never forced tulips. How is it done? Maybe I need some too. Patti

I was watching HGTV one weekend, and that gardener guy came on. (I can never remember his name!!) He showed a pot of six tulips that he had forced.

Plant 6 tulip bulbs into a large pot filled with potting soil, leaving the crown of the bulb above the soil line.

Water. Place another empty pot on the top, upside down, to simulate darkness.

Place the whole thing in a very cold place and water once a week for thirteen weeks. Near the end of the thirteen weeks, the tulip bulbs should have sprouted and you can uncover them and bring them inside where it's warmer. Just keep watering them once a week and they should bloom.

I haven't tried it yet, but I figure that I'll have something of a gardening nature to do at least once a week for the next thirteen weeks!

Thanks, that sounds straight forward enough for me to do. Is the very cold place outside on a porch subject to below freezing temp? Or in a 40 to 50 degree indoor space? Patti

I will be keeping mine on the almost outdoor porch. Yeah. It will get cold, and perhaps down to below freezing a couple of times, but I think that it will be OK. It's the same room that I had put my clematis in last year to over-winter. It began sprouting in late February.

(puts her theoretical cap on) you're "simulating" winter and then spring for those poor bulbs, after which they can go on to experience a full life in your actual garden. Even outside would be ok, as long as critters can't eat them an disturb the patterns you've raked in the dirt. LOL.

Me, I still have some crocuses around here somewhere (!) but it wasn't supposed to get this cold and snowy this fast!

x, C

I picked up some tulips to try to force in a sale bin at a garden store when I went off island last week. I will try some in my cool GH and some out on on a deck. I will post pictures when they happen. Positive thinking! I am potting them up today.

I still have one last little box to plant of narcissus, scilla, muscari & puschkinia which are all going in a new spot that I will be able to let naturalize (if I get them planted) that I see from my desk window. It will most likely be the first real blast of spring I see from a window. And the last planted! They are from Bleek. I can't believe how good and plump they are for this late in the season. Just 550 to go to finish up the 5700 or so that we purchased. Can't wait for the show. If I had the nerve I would just order another 300 to round it up to 6000. But I think I am done unless I find some snow drops. But I am not looking! Honest. Patti

Way to go Patti!!

Applause to Patti!

Amazing! Can't wait for the show.

I will withhold my bow until the last little gem is actually tucked in the ground. But I thank you all for you constant encouragement for my foolishness. I figure that if I post a project in the works, then I have to finish the job as I know I would have pointy elbows poking at me from all the DG viewers wanting to see the results. It keeps me on my toes. It is kind of like having the local garden club always about to visit. I hardly ever have flesh and blood guests, but I now have the very best visitors in all of you. Thanks, Patti

You're anticipating my next question. When can we expect the webcam?

Victor, A Web-cam is way to complicated for me. I did get the DH a new camera for Xmas which I saw when I went to visit Boojum last week. It has a great macro feature. I did talk my DH into planting all those bulbs with me, so I figure I can probably get him to photograph the show. He actually loves shooting close ups. I just hope I didn't plant them all too deep or upside down or only in my dreams. Do you think I will hear them sprouting? Patti

I'm sure you will! Which camera, if you don't mind my asking?

Victor

Victor it is a Canon PowerShot S5 IS. I am going to get it set up this week, so he can begin using it on Xmas day. But don't tell anyone. Actually he walked into the store when I was buying it, so it is not a surprise to him. I will continue to use my little flat sony that fits in my garden jean pocket.

I had played with Boojums on Sat and saw the quality of what she was taking while I was visiting her and was very impressed. It seems bulky, but I loved the flip feature on the viewer so you can see what you are taking straight down. Great for flower pictures. It has too many bells and whistles for anyone, but the ones that my DH wants will be great. Plus I will have a built in sounding board and help site as Boojum takes amazing photographs. She is a winner like you! Patti

Don't worry. I didn't overhear what you're getting your DH.

Eric and i got more bulbs (like 50? nothing compared to y'all) in on Wednesday, in a crazy 75 minutes of semi-light at the end of the day.
We also covered a few empty areas with newspaper and then mulch in the hopes it'd keep them warmer so maybe i'll still be able to dig there next week??? or am i delusional?

Thanks Patti. What does booj use? I'm dying for a dslr.

Like everyone else. I can't wait for the show!
And, that's a great camera for your DH. He's gonna love it.

Victor, I bought the same camera that Boojum is now using ,as her old one was damaged last summer and would have cost nearly as much to get repaired as to get the new one. I played with a bunch of digital cameras, but as I know so little about cameras, I thought I would be better using her choice, plus the reviews are pretty good on the things we care the most about. This seems like a good site that I have printed out for my DH to read. It was under 400.00. Have any of you bought a new digital camera lately or researched one you would like? Patti

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s5-review/

Thanks Patti. That is a great site and I've been using it for years. I have mine (Sony H1) for about 1 1/2 years but I'm not crazy about it. My previous one - Nikon Coolpix 995 took better photos. But the 12X zoom and 5 MP come in handy. I want the new Nikon D300 but it's big bucks. About $1700 for the body alone.

Victor, the only thing real clear for me is that the one you want is $1700. I used to use a Pentax SLR but that was in the dark ages and then came a point and shoot digital and my camera brain stopped working. I am going to try to learn on this new one, as I do love to chronicle my garden in pictures. I have been frustrated the last couple of days trying to get a picture with the correct color of a hippeastrum that I now have blooming. I have good color memory and this annoying. It is too cold to take it outside in the natural light, but moving it into the greenhouse hasn't produced the right shade either. I am going to use the new one to compare when I get it set up. I want to read more first, however from this site. Patti

Hi, I bought a bunch of fall planting bulbs this year but circumstances made it impossible for me to get them in the ground. Will they survive it I put them in the basement over the winter and plant them in the spring. Or maybe the question is whith percent I would possibly lose. I thing the ground isnt' totally frozen but I don't know if it would be better not to try and plant them. Thanks, Dave

o no! another dave...
Hi and welcome (i don't remember seeing you here before) from another CTer - i was just in Hartford yesterday.
If your ground is not frozen, by all means, plant away. But mine was pretty hard a couple weeks ago, and New Haven is milder than Hartford. Last Wednesday, when it had been 40 for 2 days, i was able to get some more of mine in, and i tried to cover some other ground in the hopes it'd keep it warmer (see above), but i dunno if it'll work.
I will be planting bulbs anytime the ground is soft enough to make a hole - somewhere i posted a story about the "lost" bulbs i found and planted on New Years last year and they grew, so i'd say go for it when you can.
But there are LOTS of people here who know waaay more than me, so see what they say.

amy
*

Pot them up ASAP and put them in a sheltered place outside.

I agree with Pirl - the ground is probably too hard - put them in pots outside.

Here's a vote from me ... pot them up, but not in ceramic or terra cotta pots, and place them outside.

And ... welcome to the Forum. There's always room for one more Dave!