[PaytonPlace]

My thumb is definitely not green so pardon my ignorance.

I know of someone selling fall bulbs for a fundraiser. We are moving into a new house in January, where I will be planting things in the spring after the freezing weather is done. I would like to purchase some of these bulbs but I don't have the room to plant them in containers right now. Is there a way to preserve bulbs from now until April-ish?

 

[WeasleyMum]

You can probably preserve them either in a cool dark place like a garage, or in your fridge, but aren't fall bulbs supposed to be planted before the ground freezes, to bloom in spring?

 

[PaytonPlace]

That's what I thought so I didn't know if there was any point in me purchasing the bulbs or not. I don't have the room to plant them in containers right now and we are moving in January so there is no point in me planting them in the ground.

 

[WeasleyMum]

It might be best to skip the bulbs this fall, and just wait till next fall to get and plant them. To try to preserve them might be more trouble than it's worth, YKIM?

 

[kathirynne]

Bulbs will keep for quite some time in a regular paper bag in a cool dry place.

 

[Jennisee]

You can save the bulbs AND give them their winter cold treatment, so that they might even bloom the year you plant them. Put them in a dry, well-ventilated container either in your refrigerator or in a non-heated space like a garage. Plant them as soon as the ground is workable in the spring.

In climates that are too warm to give tulips their winter treatment, people dig up the tulips in the fall, store them in the fridge for about 8 weeks to chill them, and replant them in the spring so they'll bloom.

My dad had a bag of tulip bulbs in his breezeway all winter. It occasionally got cold enough there to put a layer of ice on the dog's water bowl. Dad planted the tulips this early spring, and they bloomed in late spring.