I'm always sorry to hear about bad mailorder experiences. I hope everyone was successful in getting their money back or at least getting a replacement that grew. But I'm not ready to give up on Roots & Rhizomes. As long as I get what I pay for I'm happy. By this I mean I'm willing to nurse a smaller cheaper plant along for a year or two if it means I can buy more varieties than I would have otherwise been able to afford. And in my opinion R&R has more of the plant varieties I want (I'm thinking of their siberian iris selections in particular... these are newer harder to find varieties that haven't made it over to Bluestone yet). ps. I also ordered those phlox from Jungs..... needless to say I was calling for replacements.

I placed my WFF order night before last...with shipping it averaged right around $11/bulb. Of course, you still can't beat the Walmart $3 bulbs that are in the stores now!! I didn't see boxed bulbs at either HD or Lowes. Sure those are all in the dumpster....sad! I've been poking around on-line...when I see some sales I'll post them too! I had been waiting for the WFF sale! Kristi

I'm in the Northeast (US) too and I put most of my bulbs out for the summer right in their pots. I use carts that hold about 15 to 20 plants each which can be wheeled around if you want more or less sun. Being in carts, if we should have a prolonged period of rain I can wheel them into the garage for a few days so they won't rot from being too wet too long. I also have planted seedling bulbs in whiskey barrels and that works out well too. Not much seems to bother them in our neck of the woods and we have an abundance of squirrels and chipmunks. The chipmunks do like to "plant" things in some of the pots though but never actually bother the bulb itself. Just never use bone meal as that will attract everything, skunks included and then they will dig up your bulbs! If you only have 20 or so you can plant them right in the ground, they will love it and their roots will grow like wildfire. Only drawback is that you have to dig them up in fall and trim their roots and either let them go dormant for a period or replant them and assume that they will suffer a setback. I get the most growth in the bulbs themselves by planting directly in the ground but it's hard for me to get down on my knees which is why I love the whiskey barrels so much. Donna☺☺

Very nice grouping, Kristi! I didn't know "Alfresco" had any scent... so few do. I think if I had the wherewithal, I would absolutely place every bulb in a raised bed for the summer, giving them good spacing, which would allow them the room to spread out and really grow healthy root systems and nice leaves with which to 'feed' the bulbs and help them accumulate better girth... but it's also a lot of work to keep potting and un-potting depending on the changing seasons, and I'd be a little worried about insect and snail or slug damage. Of course, one could use a systemic in the bed to keep insects at bay. I hesitate to mix different types of plants in one pot, unless we're talking about seasonal arrangements of decorative annuals, mainly because I want all the nutrition to go toward the bulb, and not to be 'stolen' by a ground cover that is planted purely for aesthetic purposes. I think Oxalis stands well on its own, and I wouldn't want to take away from its lovely blooms, interesting leaves, or its kind of odd schedule for growing and blooming, from my experience. Ivy might be a different story, but again, I would hesitate because most ivies grown indoors as houseplants seem to be spider mite magnets, and prefer an environment that has higher humidity. Of course, these are just my opinions and experiences, which should not interfere with what anyone else wants to try or do. Your own experiences may vary. I try to study the needs and characteristics of each bulb before potting, so I know how tall it will grow, when it's most likely to bloom, etc... so I have a good idea of which bulbs match each other and which are too different to share medium in one pot. I could always plant them according to which bloom colors and sizes match, or by any other criteria, really. Until this year, I had them all potted individually, but it takes up so much space to have all those pots... and space isn't something I will have the luxury of once we finally make the move north. Therefore, it makes more sense to group them, in my case.