Hi Alina Yes, a bulb to a 5 litre bag. Make drainage holes in the bottom of the bag. Take out about the top third of the mix and put in the bulb, then cover it up. I'm not sure what you would do over winter because winter here is more wet and miserable than 'frost and snow'. Perhaps placing the bags in a polystyrene box and wrapping with plastic bubble sheet before putting it in the basement. So long as they don't dry out - and you have a note on the calendar to remind you to check for signs of returning life. Asters will also grow and flower in bags - but they don't reach their full height because they bulk up very rapidly and dry out quickly in the summer. Erigeron is also a possibility. If it isn't a pest plant in your area, Erigeron karvinskianus can be a very useful filler, and several of the others flower for long periods, too. The best way to water plants in bags is to plunge them in a bucket of water, wait until the bubbles stop, then put them to drain. It's very easy to add a dilute solution of fertiliser to the water - to do two jobs at once. For 'in between' - tall forget-me-not (Myosotis), ornamental cabbages or kale(!), Violas, Calendula, Hosta, Thalictrum (foliage), grasses and sedges, Geranium, Corydalis, Nigella, dwarf Aquilegia. (You can tell I like the 'misty/frothy' look!) Heuchera, Tiarella, large Ajuga. Echeveria secunda, creeping Phlox, Anemone coronaria in a single colour, dwarf wallflowers... Diascia, Mimulus, Nemesia. By themselves or two varieties eg forget-me-not and cream wallflowers, Nigella and Hosta. It's really hard to say because I don't know when plants come out in your area, or whether you experience sudden heat spells which can definitely shorten the flowering time of a display. My own view, with the parrot tulips, is to let them be the stars of the piece and use a solid colour in the supporting plant's flowers either as a foil or to echo one of the colours in their petals. Or have foliage which does the same thing.

Karen I love your photos, keep them coming. Jqpublic, I am only watering the new beds around the house. Needless to say some of my plants, especially the Monarda Claire Grace, really look cooked. Cameron our house used to be to the left and ahead of the big perennial bed, looking down the hill. It was moved a year and a half ago because it was in the floodplain. So we are really dealing with a changed landscape this year. I like it! Here are some more whole garden photos. Early this spring, view up to the house from the big perennial bed. Looking through the arch toward the pasture. Views of big perennial bed toward neighbor's pasture View away from neighbor's pasture, toward my woods Another couple of views, just as iris are getting geared up The rest of the big perennial bed, later in the year Back of big perennial bed Looking over big perennial bed toward neighbor's pasture again The dahlia at the front of this picture, Rothsay Reveler, has just started to bloom.

Just returned home after being gone for 2 weeks...thanks to my son who came over and watered once or twice, they are doing great. Some are 3 feet tall, and Rock Star has huge buds already. A few more might have buds, but haven't had time to check them all. This week is in the 50s, so I'll move them back to the garage for night and outside during the day. If nighttime temps stay above freezing, it's out to the greenhouse soon!

Hi All; We only grow about 200 plants each year. There are many times where the blooms are so large they are not able to support themselves with very thin stems particularly after a rain. We purchased 1/2 dia. conduit, 10' lengths, relatively inexpensively at Home Depot. Painted them green, cut them to different lengths, pounded them into the ground using a protecting piece of wood. For ease the other inexpensive pieces are conduit connectors so cutting short or long lengths can be added with just a Phillips screwdriver. We have been growing these beautiful flowers for about 10 years and as the plants show their heights it is possible to often know which ones are 2-5' tall and those that are gong to be 8' high. The purchase of the conduit gives you the ability to cuts different lengths and after some time there will be enough short/long pieces to get you through the season just by adding additional lengths. We prefer not to use any type of webbing that would take away from the beauty of our Dahlia blooms. The conduit in most cases is difficult to see within the foliage. Help this helps to make your gardens more beautiful than ever. Charlie