I'm confused. Did you plant them last Spring, or are you planting them next Spring?

I planted some Liatris and of course gladiolus last Spring that bloomed.

Many bulbs won't bloom unless they experience some chill.

It sounds like your problem is that you are thinking of transplanting them when they are blooming. The risk is you will traumatize them...not all their nutrients are stored in the bulb when they are growing.

I did have good luck planting a potted allium in the Fall.

This post was edited by edlincoln on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 10:39

They are going in this fall. Some are new, most are used. Once they are recognized for flower and bloom, I plan to relocate them into the beds where they will stay.

I have done this before in the spring. I first started by moving miniature daffodils with a significant clump of soil. These were very successful. Another year, I moved medium sized daffodils and they were almost bare rooted. Unfortunately, I did not note the total success of this one but many did survive.

The problem is that if I do it "by the book" as usual, they are difficult to find after the leaves die back and the destination is not clear.

I have considered placing them in pots to spend the winter and to place them as a group into location but I will have to dig a significant hole where other plants are growing. Individually, I only need a 3" x 6" hole and I can use a stand-up planter.

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As a gloat: I just topped 276 different flowering plants (:

So is this essentially the same problem as in this thread?

Here is a link that might be useful: Your other thread.

Actually, I figured this was different enough that it needed a new thread. That one was in the idea to hold the bulbs dry and to plant them in the spring. I did not really get any answer to that one.

It was then it was suggested to pot them up and plant them after they went through a winter/spring development. This thread is more to place them in a nursery bed and dig them out in the spring while they are still in bloom to be able to ID them. Not too much a difference I guess other than to pot or not to pot. Potless would be more practical for me but I still wonder how the bulbs would appreciate it.

I was once admonished for hijacking my own thread when I changed the topic too far.

No admonishment intended. Just checking whether this is the same situation you are talking about. Although I do think it could have been appended to the other thread so someone doesn't repeat the same suggestions.

You seem to really want someone to say that it will be fine to transplant flowering bulbs from a holding bed. But it would clearly be less satisfactory in terms of root disturbance than potting and inserting in the gaps. As for planting the bulbs in the spring I imagine, although I have never done it, that they would either flower very late or abort their flowers and just grow leaves. And even that would be predicated on your being able to hold them over dormant in a cool dry place until the in situ daffodils begin to reveal their whereabouts. The linked item comes to the same conclusion.

I'd just bite the bullet and pot them up. The longer you leave it the less likely a successful outcome. It's already getting late to be planting daffs. It doesn't need to be fancy mix since it's temporary and they're going into the garden anyway. I'd just use some reasonable garden soil in the pots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daffodil planting in Spring

"You seem to really want someone to say that it will be fine to transplant flowering bulbs from a holding bed. "

I am not necessarily wanting someone wanting to say it is OK rather just wondering if someone has had the experience.

I am apt to do a long term experiment though:

a) Leave some dry to plant in the spring;
b) refrigerate some dry to plant in the spring;
c) pot some up now to be transplanted in the spring;
d) have some in the ground to transplant bare rooted.
e) Other suggestions?

It will take 15 months to get full results.
After all, isn't that what gardening is all about?

This post was edited by Emerogork2 on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 7:29

That sounds like an excellent plan. Let us know how it turns out.