Got an e-mail from John Scheepers the other day that my amaryllis bulbs should be delivered to MIL on the 17th. We'll be at her house then so I should be able to get one bulb and then she can get the other, as originally intended.

Wonderful @Kelli!

@jmorth

How big were the different Hyacinth bulb varieties you received from Old House Gardens? Since they didn't list the sizes I was wondering.

I have been debating whether I should open a new thread about the following question but heck everyone is here. To keep on topic for a second, I was at HD today, bulbs were half price and I bought NOTHING! I was kinda wanting some hyacinths.

I'm tinkering more with the idea of forcing this winter. For you fellow forcers, choose one. Would you rather have spring color in Feb, or is the fragrance the attraction? I'm leaning toward fragrance. In my part of the world Feb is when the weather starts cooperating some days so one can get outside and turn some earth.
Have you ever layered your bulbs in a pot? What I will have to work with is, Sir Winston Churchill daffs, muscari, dutch iris, and Darwin tulips. I'm really excited about trying this!

Here you go @Marilyn

Kabby, not sure what you had in mind when you say forcing? Are you talking about forcing bulbs in a heated area such as a greenhouse or indoors under light or are you simply referring to planting your bulbs in pots instead of in the ground?

I plant tulips and other bulbs in pots that I keep in my unheated greenhouse with maximum ventilation during winter and then well ventilated during early spring. This way they will be ready one or two weeks earlier as compared to the ones grown outdoors. However personally I'd only recommend using the shorter Darwin hybrids in a pot, not the normal tall ones. I have tried growing tall ones in a large pot (actually a 20 litre bucket meant for mixing concrete)and while the result is okay a shorter one just looks more proportional in a pot, at least for my taste.

Normally I only do one species or cultivar in a pot as I think it's easier to keep them separated, but last year I planted the very early flowering Crocus ancyrensis 'Golden Bunch', Muscari aucheri 'Mount Hood' and Narcissus 'Petrel' layered in a wide pot and the result was pleasing to my mind. Petrel is quite small for a daffodil, so this worked well and the crocus of course bloomed long before everything else. Perhaps with a normal sized daffodil, it would be better to plant the Muscari towards the front of the pot as the large daffodil foliage would else risk covering up the Muscari too much? But this would also depend on the planting distance between bulbs.

I was however not very pleased with the result of planting Dutch Iris in a pot. The foliage is tall, narrow and uninteresting, however it wouldn't crowd out or cover anything growing under it. Maybe this would be a good place for some Muscari?

@William what excellent ideas! Now see, that was so very helpful to me. I wouldn't have thought about using shorter Darwins and I wouldn't have thought of the dutch iris foliage.
I'll research the heights on the Darwins as I have not mixed them yet.

I will place these potted up in my mini fridge until Feb or so and then bring them out to warm up. No no greenhouse for me or lights. I should be so lucky.
I have already planted all my crocus in the ground, I saw some 1/2 price yesterday but that was for 60 and I didn't want to go there. Next year I'm going to get some hyacinth and maybe some freesias.

Thanks! @jmorth

Okay okay I succumbed! I was looking for bulbs on sale and I found TulipWorld. Five negatives on Watchdog but customer service seemed responsive to those negatives.
So far, 5 each Hollyhock(red)and Carnegie(white) hyacinths
Wanted a blue hyacinth but only a purplish color available.
Forty blue and white muscari. Will have some red, white, and blue forcing going on. I need more pots!

Went to Ace hardware to buy 2 bales of straw and could not resist 50 % off 50 daffodils. I was not gonna plant any bulbs this year, but I simply could not resist and have a new area I built this year that needed some Spring bulbs.

@DavidLMO Welcome to the dark side David!

Add
5 Pink Sunrise muscari
5 Pink Pearl hyacinth
Where's @Cinta? You're supposed to keep me away from the corner pusher man. Oh jeez I was just vaulted back to the 60s and Steppenwolf. I do not approve of the language though.

@: Kabby

You have to save yourself. They have taken me down already. I have fallen and I can't get up.

I saw Steppenwolf, maybe 1969?

Who's Steppenwolf? (J/K)!!

Rock group - 'God-d___ the Pusher Man' and 'Magic Carpet Ride'
also, name of a book by the German Herman Hesse, kind of a cultural icon popular w/hippies at the same time the rock group was popular. I think the book was originally published much earlier but became popular w/ the counter culture into the 1970's.

Yes the pusher man ran deep into the 70s Rick James was on the back end of that era with ......I Love You Mary Jane

Sheesh guys...I was just kidding...I listen to oldies too ya know

I caught the J/K above. It's just that they weren't oldies when we listened to them. I however was 12 y/o and in love with Bobby Sherman.

I planted bulbs today and will be planting tomorrow before the rains expected on Wed. Boy do I have some major soil amending to do.

@Cinta that's one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Already taken you down.

Steppenwolf
Iron Butterfly
Jefferson Airplane
among others that I don't remember

almost went to Woodstock - turned around when we were half way there cause we had no tickets. Tickets? We didn't need no stinkink tickets.

Jmorth - I read every work of Herman Hesse. Weird stuff indeed.