i miss those type of boxes .. pure trust in next year... you just have to have faith ...

oct is planting time for me.. now seems a bit early ....

the beauty of oct.. was that all the annuals could be ripped out ... to make planting easier ...

bulbs were one of the reasons i always had annuals.. so i knew where the bulbs were or went. .. and were to expect them ... to pop up in spring;. nothing worse then destroying some bulbs.. planting perennials on top of them ...

ken

Hey @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK can you detail all that it actually in the box?

How exciting! Like opening an eagerly anticipated Christmas gift!!

Yay! I have only just got around to sending mine off. Did you get anything new to you? Especially thrilling? I am having a go with eremurus and have gone a bit overboard on 200 species tulips. Lots of anemones and tiny reticulated iris. Plus a handful of bare-roots hardy geraniums. I have blown my entire garden budget and still haven't done the bedding tulips.

Spring bulbs, (and sweet peas) get me through the dismal days of winter.,

Just found some Actaea too.

Fun! You've kind of jogged me back to reality lol. My mind is still in July somewhere so I haven't even thought of bulbs. I have such a love-hate relationship with them. I LOVE the spring blooms but I HATE to plant the bulbs! But obviously you can't have one without the other. I usually at the very least throw a couple of tulips in a pot for annual spring color. I should at least get those ordered I suppose. Time is flying this season....

:)

Dee

Lovely box full of bulbs:)) . I got my order in yesterday and have such anticipation! The bulb store says end of September but our weather here in Anchorage is perfect for planting bulbs right now with highs in the 50s and sunshine, so I included a note in the order to ship ASAP. I love planting bulbs in the warm afternoon sunshine, autumn is my favorite season.

Cassata daffodils

Cum laude daffodils

minnow daffodils

Jonquires tulips

Maureen tulips

Orange princess tulips

Queen of the Night tulips

150 bulbs altogether for my order- I'm slowing down and spending too much. I'll likely find more bulbs locally and I don't want to stop until the ground freezes more than an inch deep. Enjoy the fall!

Oooh, a goody box! Enjoy!

I love ordering things!! I buy everything and always come up just short of free shipping so I have to buy more.

I am less excited the day the box arrives as then I have to dig 3,000 holes...

I made that mistake with hostas, not gonna do it with bulbs.

I just envy that you can plant all of those without squirrel cages??

They would be gone overnight around here!

...I am less excited the day the box arrives as then I have to dig 3,000 holes.....

Haha, bingo! I'm all happy and excited opening the box and looking at the bulbs and smelling that wonderful smell as the box opens... and then I realize I have to actually plant all these things lol. But honestly, it is SO worth it the next spring!

:)

Dee

I counted up - 735 bulbs...but many of them are tiny, going into pots (for my putative plant stall).

Yep,Cearbhaill, I did 3000 narcissii in the wood. A horrendous job as the soil was stony and hard going. We managed to get 3 long handled bulb planters and worked in pairs, so got done over a long, hard weekend. One of my better decisions as the narcissii have naturalised, expanded and look gorgeous, in the clearings and along the rides. This year, though, it's strictly primula (cowslips, oxslips and common yellow primroses).

I have had a few disasters though...such as the mad moment of allium love, when I spent the most money ever, on an autumn bulb order...and just about every bulb was mysteriously eaten. Crocuses would be nice but get munched, while tulips just look silly in the woods but are great at the allotment.

i bought one of those bulb planting augers for the cordless drill .. and an extra drill battery ... it really cut down digging time ... presuming you have pliable soil ..... and not yucky clay ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bulb+planting+auger&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

All planted! Only about 300 in all.

Well done, Floral,

I bought a couple of augers too, Ken. I have 300 small anemones to plant in grass (along with various primula, species glads and small narcissii. I also have 200ish species tulips for the gravel garden (and eremurus, which I haven't grown before). Awaiting delivery this week, so I have been frantically cutting back and clearing (giant roses and cistus)..

I am a total convert to battery tech after buying a set of Metabo tools. Now, I even have a battery chainsaw, chopsaw, reciprocating saw, hedgetrimmer, leafblower. secateurs, strimmer/brushcutter...

Batteries are getting better all the time

I was all smug with the thought I hadn't bought anything new this year, and then a few snowdrops showed up... and then a friend surprised me with a few daylilies and alliums, and I remembered all the tulips I dug which need replanting, and then I thought moving a few colchicum while they're up and flowering would be a good idea, so I guess even without a big box there's always plenty needing planting.

I'd plant more tommies, but they only bloom for a day or two before the rabbits find them.

Floral, do you plant the Hyacinths behind the shorter growing plants?

Seems that when I plant mine, I have to remember to do that because the leaves get too tall after flowering an the tall leaves left behind look sloppy hiding the shorter plants until the heat of summer dries them off.

And, how do you stop the critters from digging them out?

Mike

The Hyacinth bulbs are prepared ones for indoor growing. After they‘ve flowered I stick them out in the garden wherever there is a space amongst the perennials. I don't plant in rows or strictly by height. The only critters I get are the invasive grey squirrels and the only thing they eat is tulips.

From a previous year. I bring the bulbs in from the cold, dark shed in succession,

In subsequent years the flowers are less dense.

Mine showed up today :))

and… yippee its snowing

not a problem, sunny tomorrow

Wish me luck , haha !

Oh, my goodness. That’s not looking conducive to gardening. Where are you located?

Im in Anchorage, Alaska

It’ll melt tomorrow I’m pretty sure

OMG! There is no way I could manage cold-climate living. None whatsoever. Even in the UK, I have to sit under daylight bulbs to stave off the SAD, unless I get to spend a few hours outdoors every day. Which would be a very reasonable prospect if I wasn't also an idler.

This autumn has been glorious so far - have been to the allotment every day, rattling through the tremendous amount of clearance (because too many bloody huge roses).

I grew up in Michigan, so snow and the accompanying recreation it affords are 'in my blood'. The snow lightens things up quite a bit, the almost-full moon last night lit up the snowy yard beautifully. It is crucial to get out during the day, just like you said,... x-country skiing (though I'm slowing down) offers a lot of joy.

We are in for a sunny week and high of 40 or so. and I finally tracked down a company (Hirts) to ship dwarf iris reticulata up here, so another order is on the way. Local sources for bulbs seem to have dried up.

my latest and last order just showed up

wanted to show another photo of garden showing sunny day

Here is the general area where I will disperse the bulbs around peonies etc, I like to group them with coordinating perennials…

thanks for this fun thread :))

Our order arrived yesterday and inside was Veseys 2023 Spring catalogue!

(Finished planting 100 daffs yesterday...feels good getting that out of the way)

“The only critters I get are the invasive grey squirrels and the only thing they eat is tulips.”

I spoke too soon. I just looked out of the window to see a grey squirrel happily sitting in a pot consuming crocuses. This year is the first time they’ve done that. The pot is now topped off with upturned smaller pots.

Aye, the wee sh*tes! I grew wonderful cobnuts on the allotment for almost a decade until discovered by squirrels. Since then (2012/3) - not a single nut to be had apart from those gleaned off the ground. In our part of town, the greys are being overtaken by sleek, (and rather beautiful, black squirrels...evolution (or adaptation) in action.

I am frequently tempted by the idea of squirrel fricasee or fried squirrel in cider. If it was good enough for Elvis... I could prolly pass it off as some vague birdy game (to the rest of the family)...but the skinning and prepping is daunting for smallish morsels of uncertain tasting edibles.

I did once get a squirrel pasty at a farmers market. Very tasty.

O Floral...back to 'hardscrabble culinary fantasy world' again!

Idly checking out latitudes, I sorta knew, but was still shocked to see that my latitude, just north of 52nd parallel N still takes in Alaska in the US. I know we have a maritime climate and a gulfstream, but should the gulfstream fail, we are in for some bloody cold UK winters.

Starts to revive old friendships with escapees to warmer climes (although 2 of them live at altitude so still not ideal).