Hi,

I have very limited experience with this, since I just tried it this year with some oriental lily bulbs, and I grew in crates.

However, I did stagger my plantings, doing one and then doing another about two or three weeks later - not sure about the exact timing, since I didn't keep any records.

However the staggering did work. I did get blooms well into late September this way, while the first lilies bloomed in August.

Another thing I did, since I grew in crates, was that I put the crates I planted at the same time in different areas receiving different amounts of sun, hoping to delay the shady crates a bit. That seemed to help too.

Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in. Good luck!

:)
Dee

It sounds like you're planting in the ground rather than in crates. If so, try to choose different microclimates. The irises will bloom in partial or part day shade, so putting some in a very sunny area and some in part shade should give you at least two different bloom times. This will work reasonably well with Asiatics, too.

I haven't tried this next idea, but it's a possibility, especially for the irises. If you mulched some very heavily, you might be able to delay emergence and flowering. Also,if you covered some with black plastic, you might be able to warm them up and get them going quickly in the spring.

Hi,

Annebert, thank you for your suggestion re creating different microclimates. I put all the bulbs in the ground today (rewarded with back/neck aches) and tried creating different microclimates using several techniques; varying amount of shade, depth of bulb planting, & amount of mulch. I'm going to try the black plastic over some of the areas next spring. I like to experiment and so I'm looking forward to seeing the results next spring.

Dee, thank you for your rapid response. I'm not familiar with planting bulbs in crates, but it sounds like my neck & back would find planting in crates a kinder and gentler bulb planting technique.