Well, you probably should read a book to get all your questions answered in one place and at once. I'll try to answer some of them as briefly as possible. Assuming your zone is z7 (Great state of NC have different zones), 1. October and even November is better than September. However, if you already bought bulbs you should keep them in a refridgerator or at least in a dark dry cool place. 2. Recommendations for lighting conditions (sun/shade) written on a package is for the time when particular bulbs will be blooming, not for the area in general. For example, daffodils need sun to part-sun to bloom. You could chose the site that will be sunny in a spring, but become shady in a summer and that is OK. 3. Yes, it does. In some cases recommended spacing is for the cultural reasons and in a some cases just for the effect you are looking to create. Question is too broad to be answered in short. 4. Soil preparation, it depends on bulbs you are planning to grow. They all have different cultural preferences. Watering, normal practice for the fall planting is to water once right after planting and ma nature will take care of the rest. 5. There are several types of bulb planters for the different situations, but I found auger to be the more convinient instrument to plant a single bulb. For the mass or clump planting good old shovel will be your best friend. 6. Theoretically all bulbs are perennials. However in some climate they could be perennials and in another not. Again, all depends on what type of bulbs you are planning to grow. For example, most of the tulips in z5 are perennials, but in z7 most likely will be annuals. Daffodils will be perennials, for sure. Good luck and if you have more questions be more specific about your zone and what kind of bulbs you are planning to grow. Also mention if deers, rabbits or other critters is an issue in your area.

I love them all like always, lol. I know a lady that has those color irises. I'll see if they are still there. My friend Patty and I went over there and dug up a whole crap load a couple years ago and we mixed them all up and dug them out of different areas of the yard and somehow she ended up with all White and I had all yellow, lol. She had asked us not to take the colors you wanted because they were still blooming. They had planned to widen the driveway and I forgot about them until now. I hope they didn't bulldoze them. I have a really cool one blooming I have never seen before. Its white with lavender veins and the petals all recurve down then a few tiny petals stick up out of the center. Never seen anything like it. I don't know if its one I bought or one Michelle gave me. Its really cool and the water irises were too. I have a pic of them but I don't see one of the odd iris. I'll have to make sure I get one tomorrow before it dies. I could have sworn I took one. Pet the babies for me and give them a squeeze. I want to pet one every time I look at them, lol. I hope I get over this sinus crap by tomorrow so I can do some work on my plants. I need to strip leaves bad. Something is making them have white spots all over them and they look aweful.

I can see now why you've had so much problems. You live in desert like conditions. That soil looks like it's been filled with builder's backfill. It's quite limey. Given that its a rather challenging area, I would suggest looking around your neighborhood to see what thrives and use many of those plants. Roses and lavenders will thrive in your area, as do lamb's ears. Crocosmia is already borderline in a zone 9 and you mention being closer to zone 10. It is also tolerant of mildly alkaline soil. That the plant is suffering is probably a good hint that it's not coping. You could replant it in a container if you like crocosmias that much. I would suggest that you try out an experiment. Water as you would normally. Wait for 10 minutes and dig a hole. See if the water penetrated. If not, it tells you water isn't reaching below surface and so you will need to break up the soil and amend with organic soil like triple mixes. You may also consider drip irrigation - the system is easy to set up. You can find these in online catalogs like Lee Valley tools. Here's a little bit of info I obtained about alkaline soil...What Causes Soil to become Acidic or Alkaline? Parent Material - Soils are made up of ground up rock and the type of rock dictates the natural pH of the soil. Basic rock like limestone creates alkaline soil and acidic rock, with acidic rock, rock containing more silica, creating acidic soil. Rainfall - Rain leaches basic elements such as calcium and magnesium from the soil. Therefore you will find areas with high rainfall generally have acidic soil while dry areas tend to have alkaline soil. In fact the work for deserts in Arabic is al khali. Fertilizers - Some fertilizers tend to make the soil acidic. Ammonium urea is an example. How Does Soil pH Affect Plants? Most plants like a soil pH close to neutral or just a little on the acid side. A very high or very low pH can be toxic to the plants. In Acid soils calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) are less available to plants. Aluminum (Al) and manganese (Mn) may reach toxic levels. Phosphorus is tied up by iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al). Bacteria grow poorly as well. In Alkaline soils phosphorus (P) gets tied up by Ca and Mg. Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) are less available. Sometimes excess salts accumulate and potatoes are subject to bacterial diseases. How Does Compost Help? Compost is useful to add to soils regardless of whether you have acidic and alkaline soil. How can it do this? Compost is a buffering agent. A buffer is a substance that tends to lessen the change in pH. Compost allows the soil pH to effectively range to one point above and below the pH reading for your soil. So for example, for me with a pH of 8 adding compost gives me a range of 7 to 9 pH. As 7 is in the ideal range for plants I've solved a good part of my pH problem with the compost. How to Lower the Soil pH of Alkaline Soils I've found that many gardening sites and books throw up their hands in defeat when faced with soil pH in the alkaline range. Personally I think it's that there are fewer people here in the dry areas where soils tend to be basic. These garden experts are not terribly motivated to solve this problem because they don't happen to have any experience of it. So they simply write soils with high pH off as impossible. So - please do your soil tests before you try to fix your soil and then go slow in effecting changes. Give your soil biology a chance to adjust and adapt to the new conditions. Your first line of action is compost. It does work to change the actual pH and to minimize the difficulties arising from a high pH. To lower your soil's pH sulfur is your friend. It takes very little but it takes some time. The equation is sulfur + time + soil bacteria = a lowered pH. Again you will need less sulfur in sandy soils than in other soils so know your soil texture. Follow the directions that come with the material you purchase and don't try to change things more than one pH point per season."

I have a related question, I have a row of very nice established peonies. I would like to change this bed, and put a row of knockout roses next to the peonies row. Any opinions as to whether they would complement each other? Right now I have bearded irises next to the peonies, but have been having trouble with diseases the the last few years, and I think I am ready to move on, and move the irises out. Thanks!