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Tulip and Daffodil bulbs from Walmart/Home Depot

15 years ago

I picked up a few dozen tulip, hyacinth and daffodil bulbs from Home Depot. The planting time was mentioned as December for my area (9a). The packet does not mention about refrigerating it. So I just planted them as is about 4-6 inches deep, with bone meal and lots of compost. I hope these bulbs have already been 'cooled'? Do I need to be worried?

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Comments (9)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
15 years ago
I have purchased tulips several times from home depot but have always chilled them myself. I have never bought them this late as no time is left for chilling. My experience with tulips not chilled is very short plants with 25% blooming, but right at ground level with no stems, the rest not blooming at all. Al
Donna
15 years ago
Even if the bulbs had been cooled, which they weren't, the effects of chilling are lost unless the bulb is immediately planted. The hyacinths need chill time too (8 to 10 weeks). The good news is the daffodils should be alright as long as the bulbs were still firm. They may or may not bloom next spring, but if you leave the foliage standing until it turns brown, they should return and bloom for you the next year.
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I can't believe that by adding a pot and a disk of soil, they can get away with charging so much! It's so not worth that price! Of course, I'm just naturally cheap! LOL! When you think about it, though, most people buy them, enjoy the blooms for the Holidays, and then pitch them... and some don't even blink an eye paying the high cost for a disposable item like this. Incredible. Anyway... If Red Lions go for $2 apiece at WalMart again, I may be able to pot up a trio for each Christmas gift. That would be rather nice.
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I went back to the garden center where I bought the pansies recently - they said religiously dead-heading them should keep them looking fresh, and so far it's worked, but it hasn't been super-hot yet. After all this, though, I think I'm going to dig up the tulip bulbs this fall. The foliage just browned enough to pull up the last of the leaves/stems LAST WEEK, and to me the foliage looked junky for a long time. (As well as the pansies are doing, they weren't tall enough to hide the tulips.) Thanks for the suggestions of planting perennials like peonies, but I think I'm going to replant the bulbs in a bed of goutweed that I inherited from the previous owner of my house. The blossoms should provide some much needed spring color in that area, and then the foliage won't look too out of place as the goutweed really starts to take off in early summer. Thanks for everyone's help!
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Yes, bare root starts. Often a very economical way to purchase your standard clematis varieties. I've not bought from HD but have from Costco, simply because the varieties they offered were a bit less common. IME, bare root clems are best potted up for a full growing season - to help develop a strong root system and to protect very vulnerable "baby" vines :-) Personally, nothing smaller than a gallon sized plant (with a comparble root mass) gets planted directly in my garden, as they are too small to compete successfully with other plants and withstand disturbance from weeding or critters. If you purchase now and pot up, they should be of appropriate size and ready to plant out in fall. And I would not expect to see any flowers from these starter vines for at least a couple of seasons. ETA: in zone 7, I would not expect it necessary for these to remain indoors at all!
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token28001
15 years ago
I bought tulips and daffs from Lowe's last November. I got them in the ground in early January. Some bloomed. Some didn't. I expect them to be much nicer this year. I just finished my morning stroll, and I have a couple tulips and many daffs already poking through the ground. I'd say give it a shot. Worse case, you get some foliage but no blooms. I never cut mine down since they usually die back pretty early on and are in a more natural setting.
snasxs
15 years ago
No, you do not need to worry about anything.

This year, I also bought Darwin Tulips and Hyacinth etc from WM. I planted them in pots in September.

Yesterday, I removed some surface soil to check. 3 of the 12 tulip bulbs rotted. I remember that I did water a bit more for that pot. The others have 1 inch shoots.

All 6 Hyacinth are doing great. They have reached to just below the soil surface.

They are really cheap, like $4 a bag.
mchad21
15 years ago
I always thought that for my zone, tulips, hyacinth and crocus from HD or Costco were the absolute best deal. I found no difference between them and the higher prices bulbs at my local nursery. Since we treat them as annuals, it is a lot easier and cheaper to go that route.
jardinerowa
11 years ago
I just went to Walmart and they don't have any bulbs for sale! Here it's the middle part of Sept already. Will they come later? Thanks.
Z
mzdee
11 years ago
Bulbs are just showing up here in the MD area. I bought two bags of tulips and one bag of iris today. Pretty cheap by comparison to all of the mail order sources. I guess Maryland loves tulips. I'm not a great gardener but my tulips return every year, no fail yet. They are truly set and forget it type planting. I got Queen of the Nile from Lowes.Will be planting them with a spoonful of blood meal because last time I planted that variety the squirrels treated them like snicker bars.
Yvonne Hoffmann
3 years ago
Where do I buy them
Yvonne Hoffmann
3 years ago
And also are they selling them right now

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