the late late show

13 years ago

Shock. Horror. Dismay. I cleaned out the garden shed and discovered a small net of Narcissus bulbs about two months ago.

They had been kept reasonably cool and were still plump, though about the size of a generous thumbnail.

Some were goners and disappeared into the rubbish.

The rest had a little rim of creamy-white bumps at the bottom, though there were no leaves showing.

I potted them up on June 29 and put them out in the yard.

They all came up. As of today there are two with buds. I suspect them of being a little w-y variety that gets to about 9" high usually. These are only about six inches but they all look healthy.

This would be the equivalent of planting at the end of December.

The weather has been fairly mild with a few snippy little frosts and plenty of rain.

It's worth taking a chance with those late-discovered bulbs. At the worst they'll perish. But you might be looking at unexpected buds less than two months later, too.

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Comments (3)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
13 years ago
Narcissus are almost impossible to lose for me. As long as you leave them in the ground they will flourish and get into their regular season. Al
vetivert8
Original Author
13 years ago
Every so often I have a Garden Upheaval where bulbs and perennials are uplifted, thinned, and the soil (a good, solid, cluggy clay loam) is liberally enhanced with heaps of compost. (Which vanishes through the worms in a few months and goes back to looking... Ah, well.)

I totally agree, Al. They're best left in-ground as much as possible, and usually are. But I'm a fidgetty gardener ;-)))
denninmi
13 years ago
When I used to work at the garden center, we could take home stuff after it was discarded. I used to like getting the leftover bulbs. At times, it was as late as New Years, and, since the ground was frozen, I would have to just winter them over in bags in my garage, cold but not freezing, and plant them as soon as the soil thawed. It generally worked out fine, they would usually bloom and grow reasonably well, albeit tulips were often very short from the lack of a proper chilling period in-ground.