Hello plant people! I've mostly been a lurker on this website until now, but I have a dilemma I thought you might be able to help me with, and since I'm not dealing with just one type of plant, I figured this forum might be the best fit.

Where I live, the big box stores have already started putting out their Spring-planted "Summer Bloom" displays, even though winter has really only just gotten fully underway. I may or may not have been carried away by the low prices and visions of blooms dancing in my head, and I purchased a few bags of bulbs and bare roots (lilies, bletilla, and tricyrtis). I'm now faced with the decision--to plant or not to plant. We're supposed to have some warmer temps next week, so part of me thought about just plopping plants in the ground and hoping for the best, but I wasn't sure if sitting them in my unheated garage with the dahlias and elephant ears I lifted this fall might be the move, or maybe even popping them into my refrigerator? I had convinced myself that at very least I could take better care of them than was being given them by the box store, but perhaps I should have given myself less credit!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

~Will

Thinking if the ground is workable I would plant them, even in an unheated garage with your coming temps the garage will heat up.

crawgarden said:Thinking if the ground is workable I would plant them, even in an unheated garage with your coming temps the garage will heat up.

@crawgarden! My initial impetus was to put them in the ground, so it is good to have that thought validated.

I don't know why they put out these bulbs/roots/rhizomes so early... I can't imagine the product loss from them sitting around for months is worth it, but I suppose they've learned that people like me will take the bait! Suppose I should abstain from purchasing on principle, to "train" them to do better... but I'm weak.

~Will

just_as_will said:

@crawgarden! My initial impetus was to put them in the ground, so it is good to have that thought validated.

I don't know why they put out these bulbs/roots/rhizomes so early... I can't imagine the product loss from them sitting around for months is worth it, but I suppose they've learned that people like me will take the bait! Suppose I should abstain from purchasing on principle, to "train" them to do better... but I'm weak.

~Will

Will, I think we are so saturated that even with the 20 to 30's coming this next week we won't freeze, but how are they looking as far as with maybe rot?

I rarely buy those packaged bulbs, rhizomes, crowns, etc. But the other day at Walmart I saw Cinnamon fern 3 for 5.00. Why not? Since I lost the only one I had last year from my own neglect.
Opened it and all three were already sprouting fronds. Yippee! I potted them up and put under indoor lights.
I will slowly acclimate them to outdoor conditions after our last frost.

Update: I went ahead and put everything in the ground, and at this point it has all sprouted. They even survived the two-day dip into the twenties we had the other week (with a little help from some overturned plastic pots), except for possibly the Bletilla, whose growth tips are admittedly pretty brown... Haven't given up hope of them pulling through, though, and at least one waited until after the cold to send up a shoot, so at very least I should have one survivor. And all in all, my Casa Blanca lilies are doing exceedingly well. When I planted them, they had yet to sprout, and as of today, they're probably six inches or so out of the ground! I'm amazed at the number of plants that seemed far less phased by our low temps than I expected, @Rosebaby, and no rot either! Hope your garden has fared the same or better.

~Will