Congratulations! I just went through my inventory and discovered I only had a problem with late planted tulip bulbs which had a fungus. Last winter I planted 17 varieties, 6 to 11 weeks late (should have been planted in mid-September while I planted from November to December 6th). They have all just bloomed perfectly. I was only disappointed by Meissner Porzellan (small flowers of insignificant color and plants of uneven size) and had almost complete failure with Page Polka (only 20% bloomed). I recall those bulbs were quite dried up and covered with fungus when I was planting them. All other tulips, even though they had all sprouted and dried up a bit before getting planted, bloomed just fine. I hope you had as much pleasure from your tulips this spring as I had from mine. I had people stopping and commenting on how beautiful they were. And I loved them, too. Every day first thing in the morning I would walk to the window to take a look at them. Of new purchases, tulips that I had never seen before, I especially liked Blushing Lady - very tall, warm pastel yellow with pink blush, very large flowers with long petals rounded at the ends, opens wide but doesn't go completely flat, blends nicely with other pastel or warm colors, and Toyota - great shade of warm red with a thin cream edge - just lovely. They have rather small flowers which hardly open. They look much, much better than in the pics from googling images. Also Black Hero looked nice en masse with Queen of the Night. I will not be lifting that many this June as I had adequate blooms from most tulips I hadn't lifted (because there were just too many..) Exception: Blue Heron, but those were sort of weak in their first year as well. So I will only be lifting the varieties I want to plant elsewhere due to esthetic reasons. Happy spring :-)

You should be able to plant all winter in your location. The soil will stay a lot warmer than the air, and roots continue to develop and establish much of the winter. It's quite incorrect to think that the roots of woody trees and shrubs (or much of anything) stop growing in the fall and winter. Even deciduous trees that are fully dormant should be planted in the fall/winter in your climate. The roots will grow! You probably have several months of establishment time ahead of you, until the soil gets cold enough at root level to slow down growth. By that time, unless your trees are extremely large, they should be fully established. As a matter of fact, fall is THE ideal time for planting in warm climates. The top growth slows down so that the plant can concentrate on root development. It's a good thing. It used to be common knowledge; I wonder why it isn't anymore. Your trees should be well established by the time hot temperatures roll around in the spring of next year. The last thing you want your new trees to experience is bud break, new growth, and hot temperatures on a root system that isn't developed yet. Be sure to follow proper planting methods...dig the hole no deeper than is needed for the rootball to sit at soil grade or higher....but two to three times wider. Do NOT add soil amendments of any kind into the hole or mix with the backfill. Use the native soil. Mulch with a 2 to 3 inch layer of something organic like pine straw, bark chips, etc. but do not pile the mulch up against the trunk. Be sure to keep the root ball watered and moist. Fall is the time for planting in all warmer climates. Actually, this is true for anyplace where the soil doesn't freeze solid. Don't trust information you get from HomeDepot. Once year, I over heard a clerk telling a customer that she could plant the cut Christmas tree she had just purchased in the ground after the holidays. A CUT Fraser Fir! Lordy.

Last year i bought 100 sprekelia bulbs for a very reasonable price on e-bay. They were sent to me in the sort of box that you buy 5X A4 reams of paper. Therre werre well over 100, and my dilemma was "where to plant them". I was at that stage filling raised planter beds, and had put in an orange and lemon tree and did not plan to underplant them. I set the box aside and forgot about it. A couple of months later i discovered my error, and opened the box. EVERY bulb had a pale pink flower stalk and bud. Well the space was there so in they went under the baby citrus trees, and behind the Iris japonica variegata. 4 days later the started flowering, bright red, the stalks greened up and leaves started to show. The display of so many bright red blooms behind the vareigated foliage of the iris was wonderful to see and the bulbs haven't looked back. Remember that anything you buy in the way of daffodils or dutch irises will ALREADY have a flower in the bulb, just waiting to show itself. No problem about bloom this year. They will still bloom if you throw them on the lawn. NEXT year they may not do so well as they are not currently taking in nutrient to plump out the bulbs. I must say though, from another experience of jonquils in a pot blooming their heads off with hardly any soil for 3 Springs, I think these things live on air and water. Cheers, Jan

Seasoning time for bulbs is like onions and garlic- you can eat onions and garlic right out of the ground, but if you want to store or ship it, you need to let it cure a bit first. Bulbs are like that too. If you plan on transplanting them quickly, you can pull them and use them fresh. But if you want to hold them for replanting later, you need to give them time to season and really go on hiatus before storing them. I've moved around daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths no problem without seasoning if I do it directly. I also don't treat bulbs like a lot of folk do. When I get a package, I pot them up and grow them out for a year first before putting them into garden spots. After their blooming time is done, I empty out the pot and let the bulbs season till it's planting time in the garden later that year. It takes a year of patience, but most pots divide a lot, so I end up buying half the bulbs I would otherwise. Anyway.. I came to give an update. I planted in the first bed with plants, and the second bed will be finished by the end of the weekend. I haven't done any bulbs yet, because I figure I'll do all those at once when I'm doing other bulbs in the yard.