In your zone the bulbs will need to be chilled to bloom properly next season. You will need to dig them after the foliage has yellowed, clean and dry them well to prevent mold. Store them in an airy cool dry area until about September first. Put them in a refrigerator with a temperature from 35 to 45, with no fresh fruit stored in the same refrigerator. About the middle of December they should be replanted in the garden. I went through this routine for about 3 or 4 years, before deciding that the cheap cost of buying new bulbs, when they become available, about the first of September and just throwing the bags in the refrigerator, (one without fresh fruit) was the way to go. At least 30% of your saved bulbs will be splits and not sized enough to bloom anyway. You still have plenty of season left if you buy a flat or two of summer bedding plants at your local nursery to fill the area you removed the tulip bulbs from. Al

Here's my experience, that might throw a little light on your situation. I garden on clay too. We built this house four years ago, and I immediately began amending soil and digging beds. The first year, I planted tulips (I even paid for the pre-chilled ones. OUch!)in the bed along with snapdragons and pansies and kale. EVERYTHING (like your roses) did extremely well, except the tulips. NOTHING. When I went out there to look for the bulbs and be mad at whatever had dug them and eaten them, I smelled them before I found them. Every last one rotted and putrid. (Nine times out of ten, if something is rotting, it means it has too much water. Number ten usually means bugs or disease.) So...I didn't put any more bulbs in that bed...until last year. I was at a meeting and the favors were daffodil bulbs. I thought, why not? I planted them in the same bed in the same place, and not only did they all come up and bloom, but when I dug them up two weeks ago, they had all multiplied four fold. Why? I think it's because three years have passed in which I have continued to amend that soil with organic material: chopped leaves, pinestraw, and more composted manure. And, I dig it twice a year to change out the annual material. (This is my one bed I do that.) I have dug a little deeper each time, and now, that soil is so fine and crumbly for over a foot down, you would never ever guess it was nasty clay once upon a time. The lesson for me, anyway, is that real clay soil must be worked awhile and the amendments must be submitted to earthworms, and the other processes of nature before the drainage is good enough for bulbs. Maybe, maybe, this could be your answer?

Have you tried stringing fishing line between posts or poles? Don't laugh - I read about this technique two years ago. It uses deer psychology (more about that in a minute) and it works. Deer get spooked if they feel something tangled around their feet, legs or chest, and they cannot see it. Around my gardens, I plant fence posts (even rebar) several feet apart. Then I run one string of heavy fishing line (50# test is best) about 18" above ground, and another string of fishing line about 36" above ground. The lower line trips their feet, and discourages smaller deer. The higher line gets the larger deer - they run into it at chest level, can't see it, so they don't try to jump over it, as they will jump a fence. Deer get accustomed to most aversives - milorganite, lights, loud noises - because they learn that nothing bad happens. But they do not get used to invisible (to them) fishing line around their feet and legs. I add more aversives when the deer are most destructive (i.e., buck rubbing the bark off trees). I scatter chunks of strongly scented soap around gardens and treasured plants. I have two big dogs with thick fur - when we give them a haircut, I save the fur and sprinkle it around when needed. I picked up lots of sparkly stuff made of Mylar from a party store. Mylar dances and moves in the slightest wind, so deer don't get accustomed to it. A woman who posts in the Cottage Garden forum has a wonderful blog that includes information about deer behavior and traffic patterns to protect your gardens (link below). Her techniques are successful because they are based on deer behavior and deer psychology. But first, you may want to try the fishing line strategy. It's cheap, easy and it works! Here is a link that might be useful: Gardens and Deer Traffic Patterns

Hi haydenrose, I keep all of my Lilies in containers and tall containers rather than the small ones,..mine are the 2 Ft container with hand grips and lots of Peat mixed with grit for easy drainage as its the water logging of Lily bulbs that do the damage,..some losses do happen due to extreme cold but only some as Lily bulbs are fairly tough. You do have a choice overwintering,..leave them outside or take them into a cool place,..you could also remove the bulbs then dust them off place them on a bed of moss peat which you keep moist by giving it the occasional water spray,..you must also spray the bulbs with a fungicide to protect them,..some people do the latter but i don't recommend it,..lifting the bulbs i mean,..as i recommend leaving them out of the ground for as little time as possible. By coincidence i removed all my bulbs from their containers today and replanted them in bigger containers as they had increased in population i also mixed them rather than have all the same color in one container,..my containers are the Builders Rubble Containers and boy do those handles make it easy for lifting. Philip