I am so happy to find this post. I have almost the opposite problem - I live in the hot wet tropics, never cold. I purchased some Crocus (Saffron) corms (was very expensive here so trying to not make mistakes). I put them in my veggie drawer in the refrigerator (all fruits removed from fridge) at 3C/37F. I read that they must have a cold period of at least 15 weeks to have a proper healthy bloom. After being in the fridge less than 3 weeks, each are having a white sprout coming out the top, but no roots. So do: 1. Ignore and wait the 15 weeks (will they starve to death?) or 2. Plant now (they are going in a pot) being very careful not to break the tender shoots and water only once until green shoots emerge from the soil? Thank you so much for the help, Christa

WOW! I am so glad that I am not the only one! LOL! I bought some tulip bulbs last fall, and I was going to plant them in containers. However, I never got round to doing that. I left the bulbs in the unheated (but insulated) garage, which was in the mid 30's to low 40's during winter. About a month ago, I planted the bulbs in some containers, and now they are sprouting very well in the garage! My questions are: 1. When will it be safe to take the containers outside? It can still go to low 30's here at night. 2. How likely are they going to bloom this year, given that the bulbs were chilled in the garage? I am quite surprised by how well they are sprouting! Thanks!

Hi Lisa, Do you have the one named little princess? I have not seen them listed in any catalog so far! My son has a girlfriend that is referred to as Little Princess, she even has a t-shirt with that name one the front! That would be cool if I could find a tulip with that name :) If you know of any place where I could order one or a few, please let me know? Thank You, Patricia

Many years ago, I recall about 70 cubic feet of bulbs being destroyed. All of them viable. Mostly daffodils. Four major crates of bulbs. I was told that HD sends back the tag for credit. They do mark them down for a short period before throwing them out. Tax-Exempt organizations might have access to the merchandise. I have also learned that 90% of merchandise returned to big-box stores is also discarded. It is easier/cheaper to dump it than to put it all back in the packages and placed back on the shelf. People tend to not purchase a package that has been opened. Economies of scale. It is a sad state of affairs. These stores have become trash generating machines.