WOW! I'm amazed you got even half of them planted in your advanced "delicate" condition - good for you! Unless stored very carefully, the bulbs will deteriorate over the course of the year. And should some survive the period of inattention and survive, then you are faced with what to do with them next year - you'll have your hands full with three little ones to tend to anyway. As Costco bulbs are relatively inexpensive, you may choose to do nothing and enjoy the fruits of your already completed labors. But if you could manage it, I'd go ahead and pot them up. Make sure the soil is slightly moist and store them over winter in your unheated garage. Once you see some green poking above the surface in late February or March, go ahead and bring them out into the open - they should bloom pretty much on schedule. I do this with a lot of spring bulbs I don't quite get around to planting with great success.

And best wishes on the impending arrival!

Congratulations! I remember the struggle to plant bulbs when I was pregnant too! You did really well.

In the spring when they are blooming bring your baby outside, put her/him on a blanket in among the flowers and have someone take their picture. My husband did that and it turned out to be among our most treasured photos. When my daughter was a little older I told her that she and the daffodils and tulips (etc...) were the same age.

(Though much later she did ask me if she had started out as an egg or a bulb, LOL)

If they're tulips, you can store them between around 35-48 degrees until mid to late December, at which point they'll need to be potted so they can root. Daffs should be potted up now. If you can keep both of them between 35-48F for 12 weeks, you can bring the pots in and have flowers inside.

I'm afraid that most varieties won't survive for a year, even in cold storage. Certain tulip cultivars can be stored in peat at just below freezing for 8-9 months and then potted and flowered, but the flower size and numbers are invariably smaller and fewer than with normal forcing techniques as I described above.

Thanks for the great info.
Congrats on your third child. May you have a wonderfully healthy baby.
Sign me...
the other holiday baby...
Christmas!

Two things I miss about LI. The beach and it's growing season. Can't beat them. I escaped the crowd many years ago though.

Your best bet is to supervise a friend or neighbor and get them planted. If not pot them up and put the pots against the house and cover with some sort of mulch. Winters aren't that bad there and most will make it. Then you can plant at your leisure when your ready.

I have also overwintered bulbs in the veggie crisper in the refrigerator sucessfully. Lost a few but not a lot. Walmart had some bulbs one time show up in the end of Janurary here. Would need dynamite to break the frost. They put thme out at .25 for a bag of 50. Were all mini daffs. Better than 3/4 made it. Half bloomed the same spring I planted.

WOW.....aside from your "delicate condition"...those bulbs should GO INTO THE GROUND...NOW....OR put them somewhere where they cannot freeze and given 12 to 14 weeks of cooling to promote roots, then brought out to flower...
"forcing" is the game....and sorry to say..the only game you can play with those spring flowering bulbs.

Thanksgiving has come...and now you make plans for Christmas giving......

so give...those bulbs to your friends and neighbors who wish to force them. They may have not put away their spades and might wish to plant them.

You cant keep a spring flowering bulb in a pot through a northern winter. First off, they need to be watered...which if the 32 degrees is not met on a daily basis means your bulbs will freeze their ...** off.

To fend off winter in the ground, they must create roots.
Yours in the pot, placed in a garage cannot possibly do that.

Twelve to fourteen weeks of coolness....a refrigerator or coldcellar...or crawl space...is what you have to look at.
That from today's date ...takes us into March...another 3 weeks for setting bloom...
heck, let's just try to get them into the ground by hook or by crook.

A neighbor who doesn't mind digging into cold ground might be asked. Once gotten through the top inch or so, you might find it not too difficult to go down 6" or so.
Make a trench, put the bulbs in and next spring hope for the best.
Sorry, that's what you are facing.

I had this problem and decided to just put them in the ground yesterday. Will they survive? Will they bloom next spring? What should I expect? I planted daylillies, iris, crocus, daffadils and dutch iris.

Thanks,
B

tbt3
I am in Virginia and I done the same thing. I sure hope they survive the winter planting this late date.

Janet

In zone 7 there's a good chance your bulbs will come up fine next spring, particularly if you planted them as deep or deeper than recommended. The name of the game is for them to get enough time at above freezing (underground) temps to put out roots, which help them overwinter. This late, you'd be surprised how fast bulbs will root. I just planted tulips for forcing, and the roots started coming out the bottom of the pots after a little over a week. The red impressions are so eager they push themselves out of the soil (since they're planted in pots, their tops are only about 1" below the soil surface).

Another way to attack this problem would be to sack them up in little paper bas and give them away -- either to friends, to a senior citizens' group or to a school.

I hope that by now the infant has arrived and you are both doing well.

Nell

Patwood, if you do have to put them in pots, how deep? Is it ok to crowd them? I am not really planning on forcing: just holding temporarily until early spring. I don't have much dirt on hand (The non-frozen variety...) for 50 tulips and 150 grape hyacinths.

I didn't buy too much! Just ran out of time! Really!

If I were there, believe me, I'd be over and digging right now! Hope your planting area was covered with leaves - in that case they might be pulled back to reveal soft enough soil for planting. I prefer that you don't do it now however, as sometimes there can be metals & other harmful particles in older soils (especially if you live near an airport or downhill from a freeway) that it may not be good to breathe/ingest while pregnant. That's another reason to work/turn soil gently, with a long handled spade, and to grow food gardens in fresh compost mix.

I also like the pots (with sterile planting mix) idea best for planting your bulbs now - as they can be stored/moved easily after blooming, and the entire contents planted in the ground next fall, which goes really quick if you just tuck the whole soil mass from the pot into prepared holes, and top-dress with compost.

Since it is the Holiday season - and people are now thinking about how to offer you TLC or baby Gifts - this is the perfect time to let a few people know that you'd love someone to do some late planting or potting as a gift. Someone could even take bulbs to pot (right away) and store, to be returned to you in Spring, before bloom.

I also like the idea of making gift bags out of the bulbs, too - that could make Christmas easy - and bags personally decorated by your children would please any anyone, especially Gardeners (or new homeowners?) on your list.

Best Wishes, and Happy Holidays!