I ordered bulbs and some have come, but some are coming as bits and pieces of my original order.
I wish that I had not orderd them, and just gone local.

Frost again last night and it remained pretty cool all day, thanks to lots of wind and clouds.

The only bulbs I am expecting are amaryllis bulbs from Royal Colors, I had to stifle myself and just ordered 4, would have liked more but no more space. My order was shipped on Wednesday.

Good luck with the Amaryllis. I have several on the go, but they need attention.
Too busy with outdoor bulbs, and bringing in geraniums!

I have 7 just about ready for their 6 to 8 week rest, I decided to let Papilio keep it's lovely green leaves as it is supposed to be an evergreen and according to what I read will bloom when it's time.

On the subject of mail order bulb problems: I once worked for Gardenimport Inc, and so I know that mail order companies are at the mercy of the bulb growers and suppliers. The mail order company places a wholesale order with a grower or supplier in, say, Holland, a long time ahead of receiving any retail orders, so they have to guess how many of each variety they will need, and pay in advance of getting any income. If the bulb grower has a crop failure, or the supplier substitutes varieties at the last minute, or sends the wrong bulbs, or customers order more bulbs than predicted, the mail order company gets the blame when the customer recieves no bulbs or the wrong varieties. Also, if the stock arrives late, orders can't be filled on time. Most mail order companies know that customer goodwill will affect next year's orders and will send refunds or credit notes to customers who complain, even though the company may be struggling to pay its own bills. It really helps to indicate on your bulb order that you will accept substitutes.

I'm pretty much stuck with doing mail orders. The closest nursery is 40 miles away and expensive. Other than that, there's Walmart and the local hardware store. DH bought a big bag of bulbs from Costco and they were rotten and moldy. They did refund the purchase price, tho.

Your explanation of the problems the mail order bulb companies are up against makes sense, June. And come to think of it, I once ordered some directly from a company in Holland. They took their sweet time getting them to me, and then the only things that grew were the free dahlias they included with my order.

Yes, they have their problems too.
But I ordered in June, so they would have known what I needed and when.
I am digging a few trenches so if the ground is frozen when the bulbs arrive----I can still bury them.

Good idea Caroline.

Oh, that IS a good idea, Caroline!

Just remember to keep the soil you excavated somewhere it won't freeze solid. One time, when I tried to fill my pre-excavated planting holes, I couldn't get my spade into the soil mound.

June, what did you do with your bulbs if you couldn't cover them??

When I couldn't fill my planting holes, I potted the bulbs in Pro-Mix and kept them in the unheated garage until spring. Most of them were OK!

Thank goodness for Pro-Mix, eh.

I am keeping a few bags of soil in garage.
Could do kettle of boiling water if needed.
Did that before!

I love Pro-Mix, it's so easy to use (as long as you don't let it dry out). It's becoming hard to find, though. None of my local garden centres stock it any more, and I have to drive an hour to reach a big nursery that still sells it.

We had to buy it at Art Knapp's nursery late summer, no one else had it, of course we had to pay more for it. I will be upset if I can't find my Pro-Mix, I have maybe 1/2 a bag left.

Yes, the stores and garden centers do not cater to all year gardeners.
They seem to think that it is a spring time thing only!
We have a garden center which sells all year, but it is more expensive too.

Another item I have a hard time finding in garden centers and nurseries is heavy-duty gloves suitable for handling thistles and other spiny or thorny plants. All the so-called gardening gloves they stock are uselessly thin vinyl or cotton, and only offered in "one size" that doesn't fit me. Luckily, my local feed store and farm equipment store both sell sturdy leather work gloves in various sizes - and also sell lined ones for the cold weather!

I get sturdy gloves at the tire store.

My local Canadian Tire store is very disorganized. They do have a Garden Supplies section, but I have to search the entire store to find it, and once I've found it, the shelves never contain what I'm looking for. And it's no use asking, because none of the staff know where anything is. Last time I was in there, it took me 20 minutes to find a box of matches, with 2 assistants "helping" me. I guess the store must sell work gloves, but I've never come across them. However, by accident I did find a remote thermometer for my greenhouse in Canadian Tire. It was in the Household Cleaning section, at the end of an aisle and facing the shelves of giant rolls of paper towels.