Welcome to the world of bulbs. First of all your plan is mistaken in a few ways.
I don't think your choice of bulbs is a good idea in your zone. Your list has bulbs which NEED (as in must have) to be frozen or they won't grow in the spring. From your list these are: Daffodils, Muscaria, Alliums, Hyacith, dutch Iris, Crocus. These will need to have a dormant period where they are frozen in the ground (6 weeks or so) to be able to grow. The plan to wrap the pots in burlap isn't good because it will keep the bulbs warm which you don't want. Let them freeze in the pots. Your zone worries me. You may not get enough of a cold period there. I'm in upper N.Y. and we get 16 weeks of solid ground freeze. in texas the pots may freeze then thaw, then freeze and thaw, etc. etc. I'm not sure what that will do to bulbs that require a long 6-8 weeks of continuous freeze. As a guess you may want to consider planting the bulbs in pots and freezing the whole pot for 6 weeks. Do not freeze the bulbs while they are uncovered. if it stays under freezing for a long period there then leave the potted bulbs outside UNWRAPPED. If not then you'll have to freeze them somehow. Perhaps someone farther south than me can tell you more but what you have requires 8 weeks freezing temps. The pansies should be ok in your zone.

If you get reliable rainfall over the winter, a good dollop at least once a week, then you may not need to water much at all. If you get a burst of unseasonable heat - then you will. For the species you've chosen, midwinter heat seems to shorten the flowering time quite a lot.

Where I live the ground as such never freezes, except in frost hollows, in highly shady places, several hundred feet higher than I am. A big frost for me is quarter of an inch that's gone by lunchtime. I'm saying this as a run up to saying that you don't really need to park your bulbs in the vegie bin in the fridge until the end of the month - unless your soil holds the heat for a long time into the winter - to have success with the bulbs you want to grow.

May I suggest an alternative to burlap? A decorative planter box with excellent drainage and enough room for the pots - plus an insulating filler into which you can plunge the pots to keep the soil temperature fairly even. (Untreated sawdust, bubblewrap covered with a layer of decorative mulch, etc) If you needed to, you could also put up hoops within the planter and cover it with a suitable thickness of horticultural fleece. (And/or a 'canopy' of chicken netting to keep out any rodents, or birds, high enough to let the leaves and flower stalks grow.)

The big hazard with bulbs in pots is a freeze that lasts for days, then a thaw, and another freeze. With the soil frozen the actively growing bulbs actually die of thirst, more than the freezing. (In colder zones they go dormant over the long winter - so no harm done.)

Bulbs for planting are usually old enough to have converted their bulbs into a freeze resistant carbohydrate - but the flower stalk may well be damaged by a sustained freeze. The leaves are usually fine.

Bonedust isn't necessary in pot culture, and it can attract various creatures. If you are buying a potting mix suitable for bulbs then all the ingredients should be there. If you use plain mix - you can add some tomato food according to the instructions. Not too much nitrogen, and higher in potash is what's wanted.

The most important thing for overwintering, IMO, is excellent drainage which comes from adding sharp grit to the mix if it hasn't already got it. Not sand. Little pebbles - between a sixteenth and a quarter-inch diameter - about one handful to four handfuls of mix. The roots ripple their way through and get a better grip, which is useful if you live in a windy area.

For the Earlicheers - I'd go for a deeper planter, I think. In the garden they're deep-rooting and have a terrific root system. If you want to keep your bulbs for another season then deeper could well be better to get the development needed. Think 2 gallon pail...

Dutch Iris - a lean mix, great drainage, and good sun. They need a good baking after flowering to get set up for the following year.

About the pansies: yes, you can. The small-face pansies can be useful - and are less likely to be hammered by bad weather. Put them in at the same time you plant your bulbs, put a teaspoon of slow release below, just covered by mix, before you plant over the top. They can be useful indicators of the need to water the pots, too. If the small pansies droop you KNOW it's dry! Remember to keep the dead flowers picked off to have a long flowering season.

As you're planning on using quite small pots, put the pansies with the cyclamineus daffodils and the crocuses but perhaps not the Alliums or the big daffs, which produce prodigious amounts of leaves. (You might want to consider adding those bulb hoop thingies to reduce leaf flop in a small space.)

Another possible, with Thalia particularly, is to add a couple of Muscari bulbs for a dash of blue, if that appeals.

For further protection you can top the pots with gravel or glass pebbles. That helps to keep the soil loose on the top and stops rainsplash.

Bulbs do not require freezing to bloom. Many spring flowering bulbs will TOLERATE freezing temperatures if they have established roots before the ground freezes. A bulb that is frozen and has not put down roots will turn to mush. Bulbs do require a certain amount of winter chill, but not freezing.

Anchita, have you read the FAQ for this forum? Many of your questions may be answered there:

Bulb Forum FAQ

I recommend the books on Daffodils and Tulips by Brent Heath. I highly recommend books on bulbs by Judy Glattstein. Her latest bulb book is 'Bulbs for Garden Habitats' in which I played a very minor part.

Pre-cool in the refrigerator. Do not put any bulbs or pots in the freezer. I have planted hyacinths in zone 8b without prechilling and they did bloom. So will daffodils, particularly the tazettas and jonquillas, some cyclamineus and triandrus and selected large cups. I always pre-cool tulips for at least 10-12 weeks. I have pink hispanicas that have returned for years, never precooled. I see Dutch iris blooming in town here. My muscari bloomed last year without benefit of chilling.

Proof that tulips will bloom in the south with some effort:
Tulips

Daffodils will return without further chilling after the first year.
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Have you considered forcing hyacinths in water? Once they're prechilled, they can be set in either forcing vases or containers of stones and kept inside in a sunny window.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some Really Good Advice

Thanks so much for the replies and loads of information so far..

I was suggested some of these bulbs by a local nursery (North Haven Gardens) who are usually considered pretty reputable and knowledgeable. They said most of these did well in our area, but they might've been talking from a ground-planting perspective. They also store some of these bulbs in a cooler, and advised me to keep them cool in the veggie tray of the fridge (wrapped in paper and without veggies around) till I planted them. That is what I meant by chilling; maybe I used the wrong word! Others bulbs, well, I was just too tempted to resist..

vetivert8, those are really good suggestions to keep temperatures even. Here, our temperature doesn't stay below freezing for more than a few hours usually, but we do get day long freezes maybe once or twice in the season. I guess soil temperatures would plunge further down as compared to the air, so it might be a good idea to try and keep the temperature regulated around the pots.

I'll take care that the soil mixture is well draining, and thanks for the info about the fertilizer and also individual bulbs. It is much appreciated.

foxesearth, those are some gorgeous pictures!! And very informative links too. Thanks for both.

I'm thinking maybe I should get larger pots. Do you think plastic pots would be a problem? The 14" ones I have are clay, but bigger clay pots will get awfully heavy, so I'd rather get plastic ones if their non-breathing nature wouldn't be much of an issue. Any comments?

Again, thanks for helping this newbie out!
Anchita

anchita
Lowe's has some fairly inexpensive plastic pots that are square and fairly deep. They have a wide band around the top and are easy to lift, have a drain hole and attractive. There is only 1 drain hole, but the pot has little feet so it doesn't sit right o the ground and drains well...it's also easy to slip a plate under to catch moisture inside.

vertivert....that's great info about the little pebbles! I have lots of little angular pebbles around. I sure hope we get enough rain to worry about it this year!

cynthia

One more quick question... Are the spacing guidelines for bulbs the same even if I'm planting them in containers? I would definitely have to have bigger/more containers in that case!

Thanks,
Anchita

In pots, they can be crowded. The guidelines are for optimum bulb size and room for increase in the ground.

Put tulips with the flat side toward the side of the pot and not quite touching, filling in the center with more bulbs, not quite touching.

I've seen plans for large containers where they put the biggest bulbs, like pixie lilies or large daffodils in a bottom row, tulips in another tier and smaller bulbs like scillas and muscari in another tier on the top, with soil between each tier. I've never tried it, but it sure looked interesting.

Nell

Thanks, Nell. You just saved me a lot of pots, money and work! Now I think I should stop obsessing over it (Ha! As if I can help it) and get down to planting :-)

I had heard about this layering thing too. I'm not sure if I'm going to be that ambitious right now, but it is a cool concept that I'll keep in mind for later.

Anchita