[Daisy]

Owing to the high cost of posting, I decided last autumn not to buy any new spring flowering bulbs. This was a shame, as although I have plenty already in the garden that come back year after year, I do like to have just a few pots of different ones to look forward to. I have a soft spot for the big, blowsy, large flowered tulips, which are probably best grown as temporary, pot displays anyway, but decided that they were now, very expensive annuals when posted from abroad.
However, walking into Lidls one day last autumn, I was faced with a large display of spring flowering bulbs. There they all were, with their big, colourful, enticing pictures on the front of each packet. Oh joy, it was going to be another year for my husband to complain of the packets of tulips, taking up all the space in the salad box in the fridge for the next 8 weeks.
I was engrossed, hardy hearing my husband when he came back to say that he had done all the shopping and was going to wait for me in the car.
Well, the results were worth it. Just a few potfulls, but they started flowering in early January, and are only now finishing. I have had my tulip and daffodil fix for the year.
Daisy

jan 2015 005 by Daisyincrete, on Flickr

 



 

[sylvia]

Wonderful photos, Daisy.  Here in Northern California I, too, grow pots of tulips as annuals.   They are just too wonderful to miss.  And my husband, too, begrudged the space in the fridge for cooling each year.    I now have a mini-fridge just for bulbs in autumn and seed storage the rest of the year.   For nearly 30 years I grew tulips in the ground, and each year was asked, "... and have you got a list of favorites to order for the gophers?" and knew I'd lose at least half the bulbs to their voracious appetites.  ButI got smart and planted  my tulips, like you,  in large pots.  I haven't lost a one ... and the gophers have moved on to happier hunting grounds.

[Daisy]

Thank-you Sylvia. I am glad that I don't have to cope with gophers. I understand that new roses and trees have to be planted inside a cage in the ground, to protect the roots from the gophers. The worst pest of bulbs we have here in Crete, are polecats. They like to dig in the pots, for worms and grubs.  Luckily, they haven't been around for a few years now in my garden. Possibly because I seem to attract the local cats. They just like to sit upon the emerging bulbs!
I keep my seeds in the fridge too. My husband complains about that as well. I can't see the problem myself. I don't complain about all his foodstuffs in there. (My husband does all of the shopping and all of the cooking.)
Do you have any photos of your pots of bulbs? Please share. And some of your garden. It would be lovely to see them.
Daisy

[Hilary]

Daisy,
Lovely tulips and Daffodils.
How long did you keep the bulbs in the fridge?
When did you plant them?
I have never had any success with tulips so might try them again this year