Hello. Up here in northern NY we don't have your problem. Your weather is too warm. However whoever or where ever you got the info about Tulips is wrong. Tulips, Daffs, Lilums, Alliums and most other winter hardy bulbs can be grown where you are. The problem is you need to dig them up and freeze them for 6-8 weeks. These bulbs require a period of being frozen or they WILL NOT regrow. Here in NY we have the opposite problem where would need to left and store GLADS, Dahlia and CANNA LILIES in a warm place. if you want to go to the trouble of lifting and freezing make sure they are covered with some kind of material like Peat or the like. DO NOT freeze bare without coverage. You can put in soil in pots and freeze the whole pot if you have a freezer big enough. don't worry about how much soil is covering them while frozen. The cold will NOT bother them but the warm winter you have will. Remember that they will start tyo regrow as soon as you take them from the freezer. So in your area you could get them to bloom twice per year if you wanted to dig and plant twice. Darwin or other variety does not matter. Any winter hardy bulbs, (will grow up here in the cold without lefting), need freezing but there are a few that can handle the warmth there. No I don't know what those are. Fresia will barely manage the cold here with mulch so they would be ok there I think. Unless you want to dig, freeze and replant Tulips then you are out of luck. i plant Glads as annuals here because its too much trouble to dig and store warm.

I'm in zone 8, and Tulips do OK here without any treatment after planting. I personally have not had much luck with regular Tulips since the squirrels dig them but species Tulips have done much better for me. Some of my favorites are T. praestans, big red flowers on short stalks, T. vvedenskyi, also big flowers on short stalks, and smaller flowered T. batalinii Bright Gem, and T. Little Beauty. You might like looking at information on Paghat's website, which comes up on google.

Thalia does well here and has come back for several years. Mount Hood hasn't done as well coming back. N. poeticus is very fragrant and returns, and this year I'm thinking of getting the double one, N. poeticus plenus odoratus.

You might consider some Muscari, they are rodent proof like daffodils and add some nice blue/purple color for contrast. Some are fragrant and some spread quickly.

Thalia has been around for a long time.
Thalia is taller. Both are very fragrant.
Ice Wings' petals are more reflexed.
You may have noticed the difference in price. Unless price is no object, I would plant 50 Thalia and 10 Ice Wings and then decide which to order more next year. BTW, I grow both with good return.

Ice Follies is a better southern choice than Mt. Hood, in my experience.

While the above advice to freeze your bulbs may be based on prior personal experience in growing bulbs in zone 7, I would not risk more than 1 or 2 inexpensive bulbs in verifying whether this works. Even bulbs in soil may not tolerate freezing unless good roots are first established. There is literature on the net as to how (and why) the chilling process works.

My mother used to grow tulips in zone 7 north Georgia near Rome. She had good results with direct in-the-ground planting once the weather cooled in late October or November. She particularly was pleased with red and white Emperors.

Farther south, I plant tulips (I like Triumphs or Single Late; they are generally annuals here,) in January or February after chilling them in the fridge in paper bags. The veggie drawer, NOT the freezer. Frozen dry bulbs = mush.

Nell

P.S. If you want bulbs that return, another good choice is Hyacinths -- plant in well drained soil.