Not sure I understand the question. Tender bulbs are normally sold in spring for spring planting and hardy bulbs in fall for fall planting.

Hi Nancy,

I think that the people behind the big box stores and what they send/rec are pretty clueless...maybe just knowing that there are some bulbs that are planted in the fall, and the rest are planted sometime in the spring.

I guess by hardier you might mean hardy lilies and such.

They just need someone in the know to best judge what is sent and when.

I do think though that some folks do pot up the dahlias early (inside or protected) to give them a head start in blooming, instead of waiting until all danger of frost has passed.

Sue

Yes, I know that fall is really the time to plant lilies, but often the box stores put out some lilies, allium, pineapple lily along with bare root hardy plants. But even before those arrive are caladiums, dahlias, cannas. Thanks Sue, if I had been using my head I should have come up with potting them early. I hadn't really thought about giving them a head start inside, but I really don't have that kind of space. Plus, I tried to overwinter a small dahlia one year inside, with no luck. I killed it with water. It would be so nice to be able to do that & have early blooms. I had just been thinking if they stayed in those plastic bags til ready to plant out they would rot if not kept cool.