Calistoga, the writer lives in a zone 5 and is undoubtedly buried at the present by inches, possible feet of snow. Never mind that snow is no deterrent to planting in the ground...it can cause though the ground to be frozen and makes it difficult to get down far enough for the bulb to properly be protected. Tulips should be put minimum 6" down, 8" preferred. All this of course if the thing you are planting will grow. In order for a true bulb, like tulips, to grow, they require a cooling period in order for their roots to form. Its the temperature of the soil....why we plant in the fall...that determines whether roots will form. No roots, no plant. Its that simple. And roots cannot grow in freezing ground...its too cold and they don't have a winter coat until they form roots. You cant just say....a tulip is tough...it'll grow anywhere you put it into the ground. If that were true then we wouldn't have to buy the bulbs in the fall; we could buy and plant them in the spring...and get them into the ground at that time. Now a tulip, given a cool period, needs weeks to grow their roots. Put a bulb into the ground in October, it will acquire roots maybe in November...and the ground's coolness will make it happen. Once a tulip bulb has roots....no matter what Ma Nature throws at it it will survive...down even to 40 below zero. Without roots, it cannot stand up to 20 degrees above. We have to water the bulb in...and water freezes at 32. The ice that would form around the bulb then begins to work on it....and as soon as the temperature comes up...it begins to rot. Such is the story of why tulips should be put into the ground WHEN YOU BUY THEM.....IN THE FALL. Casi, your tulips cannot be planted....it would be a waste of time and energy. Sad lesson you have hopefully learned....now take the bulbs, take a knife and cut them vertically in half. All that is the plant is inside that bulb...the stem, the leaves, the bloom...its all in there. You can see it. It takes roots to make them come out. And roots cannot form unless it is given a ground that suits it. In warmer climes, such as California, they pre-cool the bulb at the dealer or supplier and the buyer is then required to finish the period of coolness. Without the cooling period the bulb cannot grow roots and without roots, its a useless hunk of tissue. As far as storing them, the tulip bulb, if given a place where they can kept cool...a refrigerator crisper is one such place, can be stored for up to 3 months. So if you couldn`t plant them in October when you buy them, the refrigerator can keep them ...for a time. Past 3 months, they will begin to deteriorate but if you can open the ground, even in December, January even, get them into the ground...who knows..down 6`inches, 8 inches, the ground there might still be cool enough to form roots. But you must water them in and if water sits around the roots in cold ground, the ice that forms will act on the tissue and probably begin to rot them when they begin to warm up. Where`s there a will, there`s a way...unfortunately, for your builbs......NO WAY! Your bulbs are still a valuable asset to a compost pile. Tear them apart and throw in there, they`ll decompose and add nourishment to a garden later on.

If it were me: I'd remove the weed cloth now. I've not seen it do anything good for the development of a good soil structure in clay. Gravel: I'd be thinking a mix of sizes rather than a single screen size. My preference would be for 2,5,7mm which can be useful when it gets dug through the soil/clay. As I'm using it as a mulch I wouldn't put it on any thicker than 2". Less could be better.(Sand is a no-no. It's like uncreamed butter and sugar in an angel cake...). As I'm planting into clay, and if I didn't have too many bulbs, I'd dig out circular shapes for my patches of colour to the depth for my zone and a little extra. Into the extra I'd put a layer of about an inch of the 2mm grit so the roots can get started into a better-drained area. If I could, I'd get a grit that stood out in colour from my soil. Later, when I come to lift the bulbs, I'd be able to see when I've 'hit bedrock' and I'd know to move carefully so I didn't harm my bulbs. Because I'm wanting to improve my soil over time, I'd add some agricultural lime - about an ounce to the square yard. Once I'd covered my bulbs I'd ensure that I stayed off that ground to prevent it from compacting. That's particularly important over times in the year when it's wet. The sad-looking bulbs: I'd plant them up in containers and I'd plant them quite shallowly. Barely covered, and in a free-draining mix - even 50:50 small grit and potting mix with no peat. I wouldn't want the water to stay close to them and I'd want whatever roots they can produce to have lots of encouragement to forage. (I'd even rescue the ones I tossed and give them a go, too.) Those containers I'd put where they get not much more than a couple of degrees of frost, moderate water, and good sunlight. A bit later on, when I see green noses above the soil/gravel (yes they DO come up through gravel) I'd feed them at the prescribed amount with either some potato or tomato food - powdered so it slowly breaks down, and lightly stir it in to the surface of the soil/gravel. Just once. With the damaged bulbs - some might flower. Some will die. Some might only put up leaves and split into smaller bulbs. Which is fine, because I can grow on those daughter bulbs for a year or two to give me 'free bulbs'. Any with streaky leaves I'd dig up and burn because they might have a virus and I'd rather be safe than sorry. All it needs is one travelling aphid and it could spread. No thanks. And next year, when the bulbs are finished for the year, I'd be putting my grass clippings onto the garden strip with a light sprinkling of lime, followed by as many autumn leaves as I could scrounge. Welcome mats for the earthworms. As an aside - if you do use the smaller grit sizes you can plant into it. The small 'johnny-jump-up' pansies, florists' anemones, verbascum, dianthus-pinks, linaria, eschscholzia, and a good range of other annuals will grow there - especially if you can provide some water over the summer. They may not be huge/lush but they will be sturdy and colourful. When it comes to weeding over the gravel (yes you DO have to weed...:-( ) use a two-tine hand fork or weed hook rather than anything conventional. If you use a knife, that will work, too. Forget spades - and rotary tillers. They're often not good for the health of the soil structure on clay.

I expect your helpful neighbor meant store in the frig., Not the freezer. On the other hand, I imagine you would have noticed if the bulbs were soft and soggy (after they thawed out), and that would be the clue that they were no good. And, who knows, maybe they are just whining about being moved, and will appear when darn good and ready. Pondy

Thanks for your reply Campanula. I do let the foliage die right down, and I do deadhead spent blooms (or if I'm cutting to put in a vase I take either no foliage with it or just the last smallest leaf). If you've found splitting worse in pots, I wonder if growing in raised beds has a similar effect? I might dig up a couple of the in-ground ones at the end of the season to see if they split less. Are Triumph tulips more prone to splitting? I tend to stick with Ile de France, because I love red tulips and these particular ones have an almost glowing quality to the red and stand out even on gloomy rainy spring days. I've had other reds before that were more matt and lovely in the sun but harder to see across the garden from inside the house on those horrible days. Which is exactly when you need to see a splash of colour outside! Also is planting depth a factor? We are told to plant only 4-6 inches deep here, which seems shallow now that I'm reading more about it... Maybe that's recommended here to avoid rotting because it is quite wet here? Apologies for another essay!