Viewing post #1302660 by freezengirl

You are viewing a single post made by freezengirl in the thread called Managing lily bulbs in Anchorage, AK (Zone 4b).
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Oct 21, 2016 10:36 AM CST
Minnesota and Alaska (Zone 3a)
I have been thinking about your situation with the bulbs and am concerned that it might actually be to warm for them through the long winter. One of the things that I tried in a similar situation in Homer (coastal conditions) with some out of season and very poor condition bulbs I bought (50 cents for a whole bag) was to set them in a cardboard box with about 6inches of peat/soil mix I had on hand at the bottom, then covered them deeply to the top of the box with the remaining soil. I just set it outside my door directly on the ground and kept it covered deeply with snow through the winter. In the spring I pulled the cardboard sides down leaving the rest of the soil intact just adding more around to cover the cardboard. I was quite happy to actually have the whole works survive quite well. The landlord even used pictures of that garden area I had jury rigged to advertise that apartment when we left.
My thoughts are that in your Anchorage climate it might not be cold enough for the bulbs to keep them dormant through the winter under the house though I am sure it would work for a while. Perhaps you have an unheated garage or an outbuilding somewhere you could move them to if you needed to at some point during the winter, or in some out of the way spot in the gardens, under wraps.

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