Steve, I have only ever heard of them being sold on line and being shipped in the fall. I have never seen where you could purchase them on line at any other time. Given that they are prepackaged for Lowe's or any other big box store, I would wonder if they were possibly leftovers from last fall, or that maybe they weren't even Dutch irises. If you have bought them and planted them I guess time will tell. If they do indeed come up and bloom I imagine the bloom would not be the best as often bulbs must acclimate themselves to their new garden soil. They may be a lot later too than if they had been planted last fall. Next year you may likely be rewarded with nice blooms though at the right bloom time. I have not had very good luck with DI. They seem to be fewer and fewer each year. Sue...who just remembered she forgot to go check the mailbox today for surprises.....sigh

Well, I think your weather is fairly similar to ours, mild winters, hot summers, some humidity? so I'll let you know what I've grown or seen in neighbors' yards year after year... Amaryllis bulbs do really well, come back year after year, and put on a great show from November to January, depending on when you start them. The plain old red variety has been a staple in my neighborhood for ages, and I've started to see a cream colored one with mauve or pinkish edges and throats do very well the last few years. If you want to get a great bargain, wait till right after Christmas, and buy up the half-price amaryllis packaged as "kits" for gift giving. They come with a planting medium, plastic pot, and they are really quite hardy. I received one as a gift once, planted it, enjoyed the blooms, and lost track of it in my garden. The following year, it bloomed even after laying on its side in the pot for a whole year with no care. Irises also seem to do pretty well. My mother had them for years, one year they came back, but just never bloomed again - just the foliage. I see them in a lot of yards around town. I planted some Ballerina irises this year, will see how they do this spring. Day Lillies are a real winner! They need to be at the top of a slightly sloped or mounded area for good drainage. There are SO many varieties, all kinds of colors, from plain yellow, to burgandy almost black, to cream, to orange, so those are really versatile, and come back year after year. They seem to have a nice long blooming season here. Cannas would do REALLY well, but I don't know if those are really a bulb or something else? In any case, they do great here. Sorry I'm not more of an expert, so I can't give you any sage advice, but I hope this helps a bit. And what the heck, I say. Give some a try, and see what happens. At worst, you will know what to buy more of (or not) next year. I'm trying a few tulips this year that are supposed to be okay in zone 8...I'm in 9 also. We'll see. Have fun!

I live farther south from you, in zone 9. I buy bulbs as early as I can get them and chill them in the fridge for 12 weeks before planting them. With your Thalia, I would put them in the fridge and give them at least the 6 weeks recommended. I won't plant here until after Christmas. I figured I could get a lot done then, with people in and out to help me. GK's are good for that, sometimes. I will finish planting in January. Mostly, we have the problem of warm soil. I wait so long to plant because our soil stays so warm for so long. Up north, they hurry to get bulbs in the ground before the soil freezes, down here we wait until the ground cools off some. LOL I planted some hyacinth once without chilling them. They started to come up and just stopped to bloom, before they ever got out of the ground. It was a terrible thing to see. Best of luck with your bulbs. Janie

Ditto: have always planted in Fall. Do you have a nursery bed you can grow them on this year without expectation of bloom? Cut flowers if you're lucky. I think it'd be better to let them grow & store some 'food' (sun, fert) this season than expect them to hold over the summer.