For forcing.... maybe? Seems like an awful lot fo bulbs for that.

Sorry... meant to say "Seems like an awful lot of bulbs for that."

and... yes it seems weird and I'm pretty sure they're crazy (but I'm not a doctor).

Or maybe it's the people who take them up on the offer who are crazy. But I'm not a people doctor either...

At that price, who cares? That's less than $.10 a bulb - pretty darn cheap for tulips. Even if one was only able to plant up the pot for forcing (or not), the finished product would be well worth the cost. And they're talking about still planting bulbs now in zone 5 in another thread, so it must be possible this late in the season in some areas. And in zone 7 and above, you can typically plant bulbs through the winter without worry.

Wait.... I'm thinkin' 'bout this..... don't tulips and daffs need to be prechilled in order to bloom in zone 8? My zone 7 ground has been frozen since early December so I personally would not take a $14.95 (plus tax, plus shipping) flyer on 200 bulbs trying to get 'em in on the next thaw, I might end up w/ 10¢ worth of nothin'. So.... who buys these, I assume, non-prechilled bulbs? People in part of zone 7 that isn't frozen? I guess you go buy potting soil, plant them in containers and then put them out in colder zones? Or maaaaybe get 'em in on a thaw? You could probably figure out a way to do it if you were smarter (a given) or more industrious (another given) than me. I'll ask my Dr. friend but I'm pretty sure they're certifiable.

Well...if I could GET daffs and tulips by this weekend AND I had room for them, I could plant them. I'm completely out of room for daffodils, and my last few dozen tulips are going into their containers Saturday. I doubt my ground will be frozen solid for a couple more weeks--it's certainly not frozen now, and the containers thawed this week due to rain and "warmish" (aka above freezing) temps, so I can pull out the last of the summer plants and stick the tulips in.

Lisa

I have have often planted tulips this late and they performed very well. I have even planted as late as January 10. I use one of those long handled bulb planters that you step on, not a little hand held thing. Though our average winter low temps may be lower than yours, our ground is not frozen for much of the winter. We get a lot of shallow freeze-thaw and usually not much snow.

For me, it is not too late to plant tulips. I just don't think very hightly of Wayside Gardens and prefer not to buy from them.

Given every facet of this discussion, here's what I think:

If you need a last-minute gift for someone who doesn't know better, a styrofoam pot and a cheap bulb planter, together with 7 dozen or so tulips (I'm allowing for the bad ones) would look like a real deal for $14.95. In reality, when the bulbs perform poorly, either for lack of prechill in my zone, or from freezing before roots are established elsewhere, It might have been the thought that counted.

It's hard to say about the mixed daffodils -- some may do great planted late, some not. They really need to either have some prechill, or in colder climates an opportunity to make roots before the ground freezes. I'm also wondering if, since WG is in SC, the mix is for the south, or not?

I hope some people will order off for them and let us know how they turn out.

Nell

There's more to the world than Long Island, cold zone 7 or otherwise. Zone 8 Texas might need to pre-chill but zone 8 PNW certainly doesn't. And there are plenty of southern and western zone 7 or even colder locations where the soil only freezes intermittently. All those places could plant bulbs now and hope for something good in the spring. Don't bet your house on it, though :)

Hello fellow gardeners :)
On the subject of chilling--I was told that daffodils do not need chilling because they belong to the narcissus family. Does anyone have any advice or clarification on this??? It's my 1st time planting daffodils so I'm hoping for the best--I did plant some in the garden & in a container early November without chilling (as per on the package) and they are now about 14 inches tall.
Thanks :)
Nancy

Not all narcissus will perform well without prechilling in zone 9. Those cultivars from jonquilla or tazetta types are most heat tolerant and should do well in zone 9 without a chill period. Large cupped or trumpet daffodils tend to do less well - they really need a chill period.

Paperwhite narcissus not only don't need chilling, they resent chilling. Those are what I have in containers growing tall inside right now, with buds. In warmer climates they grow and bloom outside in January, places like Charleston. Paperwhites should not be part of a mixed outdoor blend, even here.

Brent and Becky sell some prechilled jonquillas and tazettas which leads me to believe that prechilling is preferable. My own experience with other daffodils has been that they bloom best the first year if they've been prechilled. In subsequent years, they seem to know whan to start forming roots. There are some like Jack Snipe that bloom some years, skip some years in the same location. I suspect that their bloom is weather related.

There are few blanket statements concerning daffodils that cover every area, not even in a single zone. In my opinion, the best plan is to research which divisions seem to thrive where you plan to plant. Buy a handful of different recommended cultivars and see what works. Trials are ongoing here; I plant some of the beautiful 'Juanita' in a different place most every year, not because Juanita is outstanding in a particular way, but she's easy to obtain and I love that blossom. Meanwhile, she's a standard against which I can measure performance. (One year the performance was flawed when a squirrel ran past; the dog gave chase and Juanita was beheaded.)

I would say that the proposed sale of 'a full garden and a blooming pot' is advertising hype. Know your bulbs; know your vendor. A hundred tulips are precious few when they're blooming. During planting on Tuesday, it seemed like plenty, LOL.

Nell

So .... After rereading these posts I think I understand now. This promotion is supposed to appeal to people who want to give inexpensive, random, mixed bulbs as gifts to people who

a) Will appreciate planting 200 bulbs in January
b) Live in some parts of zone 8 and some parts of zone 7
c) Don't care if the gift may or may not do well in spring regardless of where they live

Not crazy at all... guess this would still be a pass for me but I'm sure others will clamor for it.... just no one on this thread so far ;o) But who knows, one person's crazy may be another person's beautiful spring garden.

shrubs_n_bulbs wrote
"There's more to the world than Long Island"
And thank goodness for that! I apologize to all if my previous post somehow made it seem like I thought otherwise.

And you never know. That gift may never get planted, and the recipient may not "know why they didn't grow!"

I would not promise to plant such a gift right at this moment. I wonder how I get so lost in the planning and anticipation, then reality hits me right between the eyes. LOL

Oh, yes, now those bulbs need to get into the ground........why did I not remember that those numbers would add up, when I was ordering them a few at a time.

A very knowlegeable nursery man told me that as long as the bulbs get a start and form roots, they will likely be OK and bloom. He told me he'd experimented with it and found that they start forming roots as early as three days in the ground.

I planted some bulbs last December in the ground and some in containers. Many of the containers did not do well and in particular, narcissus did poorly. I even buried the pots and windowboxes full of them in a large stack of hay. They did not come up. The ones I put in the ground did, however, although they were a month late. No problem; I had plenty of other spring flowers to enjoy.

The offer is OK for the knowledgeable--the types of people who might research it before they did it. I've had fairly good luck with Wayside Gardens and they've answered my questions knowledgeably when I called in.

Based on my experience, what I would do is plant the bulbs and keep them in a cool place indoors for about a week or two. Then, if I didn't have the space to keep them there indefinitely, I'd move them outdoors to a well protected spot, like with the foam insulation plus some straw bales or other type of protection. Either that or put them in the ground.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden books say you can build a hay bale cold frame and put the pots in it and cover it with a window. I intend to do that for some of mine.

Cher

Hi, I'm new on this forum, but have long experience with bulbs and enough experience with Wayside to know they aren't crazy, just greedy and unethical (in my opinion at least). They are happy to sell and send things to inappropriate areas and/or with the wrong timing for the area. A sale is a sale, period. Kind of like the local Lowe's and Home Depot, who sell plants that will NEVER survive this zone 4-6 area, but are claimed to be "hardy perennials" - with, of course, no zone indicated. A sale is a sale. Caveat emptor!

I don't buy from Wayside any more.

Jeanne

Here's an update in case anyone is keeping track!
I ordered and received some really healthy looking bulbs about 4 days later. The pot was small, but not styrofoam, just some other material that goes for a ridiculous price everywhere I have seen it. So far, so good.
Anyway I got the bulbs in the ground sometime in January. They are blooming now, which is fortunate, since the bulbs that were blooming at the "correct" time got bitten by a horrible late season freeze. I have planted as late as February 20 and still had nice blooms---one year even had daffodils in June! They do come back the next year, too.
I love finding the late in season sales. Most years, our ground does not really freeze to where we cannot dig. This was an unusually cold winter, with a freak 80's week in February (or was it March?) and we did have a bit of snow.
At any rate, I thought it was a good deal, and I'm glad I'm crazy enough to try it.
Cindi

Congrats Cindi. I guess you had the last laugh eh?
Thanks for the update.

I didn't get a bulb planter with my deal--and I think it was a different offer because I didn't get as many bulbs either, but it still worked out fine for me. My point was, don't be afraid to buy/order/plant late in the season, especially with a seller who will refund your money if it doesn't work out. I know bulbs need time to settle in before winter, time to develop roots, but for some reason I've had success year after year buying and planting late. The climate here is harsh and unpredictable, and daffodils do better than tulips even on a good year. I would much rather a business offer leftover bulbs at a great discount to gamblers like me than to hear they mulched them.

This reminds me of the "SPECIAL OFFER" I saw one time in the catalog for MICHIGAN BULB COMPANY. It was 100 Lily bulbs for $14.95. Well you see my screen name so of course I ordered 3 bags. What I got was 300 of the smallest Lily bulbs you ever saw. After calling myself a sucker I planted then anyway. The first year they all grew but very few flowered. CURSE CURSE!! AHHHH but the second year they matured and 97% flowered just fine. I still have all those plus off shoots 6 years later. PATIENCE!!!