Hi, a friend gave me one of these about 4 years ago, she told me to keep the bulb above the soil. then you can see all the little babies form and pop out of the onion skin... I have lots of them now, heres a picture..linda

I would advise you to pick up a copy of Fine Gardening's special issue on Container plantings. A Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. should carry it. It will give you tons of inspiration for absolutely gorgeous container gardens that will give you pleasure all summer long. Bulbs are very nice, but the vast majority of them bloom for only a couple of weeks and then you have to let their foliage continue to grow and ripen for a couple of months after that, at which time they go dormant (disappear) until next year. You want some plants that will look great all summer long! (You can always plant spring bulbs under the summer plants that will bloom and go dormant before your perennial plants get going in the summer.) Once you get the magazine and read up, take it with you to a good garden center next spring. If it's your first garden, we all want it to be roaring success for you! :)

I'm not familiar with this plant but can think of a few preliminary questions, and at least this will bump the thread. What is the soil like? Do you let it dry before you water, and how do you water when you do? Does any sunlight fall directly on the plant? How much? Well see what others say, but it seems to me that that's an awful big pot for a small amount of vegetation. Unless the soil is very coarse and fast-draining, too much soil for the root mass means the soil would stay saturated so long that roots would suffocate (they need air) and die from what amounts to overwatering, which had the same symptoms as overwatering. Looking forward to getting more info.

My garage has windows on all sides. It gets real bright inside during the day. I did that for my conifers all winter last year and all did just fine. And besides, someone from this forum last year (forgot who) told me to keep it in a garage and provide it minimal light so I took his/her suggestion. I'm not really concerned about that though, just mentioned it because they are winterized in the same location as my perennials. Its also nice when you have a garage to store these things because deer and rabbit destroy everything in my yard. Some warm days I keep my garage open and place a temporary fence in front of it. Maybe I worded it wrong. When I mean sprinkle I mean not soaking it with a hose but rather watering it efficiently from a small watering can which drains down all the way to the bottom. These are 4 inch square pots. The thyme grower whom I bought the plants from told me these thymes should stay completely dry during the winter, not even one watering he says. So for plants like these they need overhangs. They may do fine in nature but by potting them they are already losing that status. Potted plants require more care than in ground and even in ground ones need more care than wild ones. Plants in nature adapt to the specific location from a young age. I see maples, oaks, self seeded callery pears, tsuga canadensis at my workplace all growing as tall trees in a wooded swamp constantly in a body of water. While these trees are not naturally aquatic they've adapted to it because they were born in there. I think of it as that. Oh how wonderful. I've never been to NYBG or central park but guess I won't ever go there, thanks for the pre warning. Wildhaven, my irises in my garden did that too but these are potted plants I'm talking about. I let all my inground plants let be.