I planted some White Emperor this fall too, partly because of the note in Brent and Becky's catalog saying WE has been a reliable perennial for them for several years. I love the early bloom time of the fosteriana group.

DavidLMO said:

Ahh ... so you just store them im the unheated garage til Spring planting then?

Yes. If you have a onion bag or wrap in wire so critters do not eat them. Then plant when Spring arrive.

gemini_sage said:I planted some White Emperor this fall too, partly because of the note in Brent and Becky's catalog saying WE has been a reliable perennial for them for several years. I love the early bloom time of the fosteriana group.

Well Purissima/White Emperor dates back to 1943 so it certainly has been tested by time . Some of the others are seniors as well:

Golden Emperor, 1957
Madame Lefeber, 1931 (syn.: Red Emperor)

http://oldtulips.org/index.php...

I also have a lazy planting method. Fifteen years ago when I first moved in I wanted lots of blooms as you came down the driveway. Did not have time to unpack, decorate for Christmas and plant bulbs because I moved in 3 weeks before Christmas.

I purchased 2 bags of potting soil. Spread one bag on the ground, spread the bulbs down, Spread the next bag of soil on top of the bulbs. The property had not been raked in probably 2 yrs. I had 25 bags of mulched leaves I used as topping over the soil. Gathered various bricks lying around the property and put them on top of the lasagna bulb bed. That was how I planted 500 bulbs in the bed as you entered the property.

I have used this process many times and it works great the bulbs pull themselves down to the depth they want. The key is placing bricks on top so the critters cannot dig, or crawl down to eat the bulbs.

I brought it from this

To this.

Hey, Bulbs have feelings too!!! You Bulb abuser!!!! Someone should put a restraining order on you

However in spite of the unusual, medieval and very cruel methods involved, the result was very nice

I have some vague memories of tulip bulbs sitting on a shelf outside, under a roof overhang through the winter, then planted the next autumn and possibly even blooming the following spring. Essentially skipping a season. I'm pretty sure I wasn't responsible for digging and putting them on that shelf... but could be a repressed memory as it's very fuzzy

Surely I would never do such a thing In fact I'm sure that I wasn't responsible for the actual digging of these , BUT it's possible I sort of walked by the bulbs, quietly ignoring them .

Oh... DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.

"You Bulb abuser!!!!" Hey I am a poor little 120 lb 5' woman. Give me a little leave way. I am weak you know. I have to do what I have to do to get the job done.

Trust me they will pull themselves down. I tried to bring some of my oriental bulbs with me when I moved from my old house. I dug down to hell before I found some of them. They were huge I did not know they grew that big.

Bulbs are amazing in their adaptability. And really I admire your creativity to get all things done before Christmas So will not call the bulb-police this time.

Okay. Now that you understand. But if you call the police all I will do is bat my eyes and drop one tear and they will dig the hole for me. I am goooood........ a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do you know.

Cinta, you are a riot. I can just see them digging too.

Deebie said: Cinta, you are a riot. I can just see them digging too.

Yes I am pretty sure they would. Last year I went out and my mail box was on the ground. There were pieces of a car laying around the mail box area. So I had a hit and run mailbox murder.

I called the police he took the report and as I stood there looking very sad at the mail box on the ground (The pole was still there). He asked me if I had a L bracket and a screw driver he would put it up temporarily until I could get a new box and have some one put it back up. Bet he thought I did not have the stuff. I said "sure do". Ran in the house and brought it back to him in 2 minutes.

I would not hesitate to bat my eyes and drop one tear and give the police a shovel if they showed up. My family said I missed my calling I should have been a actress instead of a auditor.

Lowes went to 75 % off . Hey - I had to buy some stuff for a project for DW. (Grrr ... I so hate Instructions that do not include key things. Anyway ...)

I could not resist. Really.

Anemones
Chionodoxa
Hyacinths

Soooo proud of myself!! Less than a hundred bulbs! Such restraint! And sposed to be in 50s here this week-end - but I have to count Eagles.

You did very good David. Now I have to go and see what they have.

I am gonna keep my eye on them. Our Lowes went to 1 $ per plant - regardless of plant - at the end of season and I mostly missed it! I did get 4 Potentilla for 4 $ Had I known earlier, , I would likely have spent a LOT of money.

The B&B bargain bulbs were waiting on the step when I got home. It was fun unpacking bulbs again, but after handling them for a few minutes my skin became irritated, mostly where I had touched my face. I've heard that hyacinths can cause that reaction, but this is the first time I recall it happening so dramatically. Thankfully the irritation is subsiding now.

The camassia bulbs are surprisingly large, and so are the Ornithogalum magnum bulbs. I also found it interesting that the bulbs of Allium 'Mars' are orange in color. The papery husk has mostly fallen away revealing pumpkin orange bulbs.

Still have the 2nd fridg running and just cleared the last of the leftovers from it, so the bulbs are all in there now separated according to which beds they go to.

Mine were supposed to be delivered today...still waiting.

Ornithogalum magnum were a pleasant surprise when grown, there's a few yet in the garden.

Mine were supposed to arrive yesterday, so UPS may be running a day behind.

Neal I'm glad you got your bulbs, and jmorth, hopefully yours will arrive soon!

I made a nice dent in the bulb planting today. My left front bed got planted with 100 La Courtine tulips and 88 Sancerre tulips. I sprayed the area they were planted in with Neem oil, hoping that it will keep the critters from digging up the bulbs.

I have a garden bed close to the street with a hedge of Laurapetulums in the back. AT&T recently plowed through my front yard to put in fiber optic cables in for the neighborhood. They left this bed an absolute mess, with a lot of red clay, and the recent rains washed away what was left of the good soil. I've added 2 bags of soil conditioner (4 CF), and I'll be adding some composted manure to amend the bed, before planting 80 Ollioules and Flaming Jewel tulips in this area, part of the haul from HD.

Here's my list of the bulbs I recently got on sale.

From Home Depot
25 Allium Gladiator
120 Pink Mixed Tulips
40 King Alfred Daffs
20 Paperwhites
50 Hyacinth mix Tequila Sunrise
80 Ollioules and Flaming Jewel tulips

Neal thanks for the warning. I have never heard that there could be a skin reaction to Hyacinths. I usually wear rubber gloves because I am planting them in pots inside. When I work in the garden I never wear gloves.

Wearing gloves could probably be a good idea for other reasons as well - bulbs could be treated with chemicals. Stronger stuff would probably be mentioned - I do remember receiving lily bulbs once with a warning text regarding handling - but not sure about fungicides? One could speculate that the longer the bulb has to travel from the Netherlands, the more likely it could be that it has been treated with something, perhaps also to meet export requirements.