Outfamily, you don't say where it is you live...if in a southern clime, then the bulbs would have been given a cool period by the grower or seller. Actually your opening line brings up a question: My mother bought some bulbs at Christmas. What place, what nursery, would sell a bulb at the end of December in a northern clime. It would be then at the minimum, a month past their proper time to plant. AT that time, if you had planted them they still stood a chance of coming to something. Here it is February...4 months past when they should have gone into the ground Spring flowering bulbs cannot be planted in the spring...they have to be planted in the fall, when, with cooling temperature OF THE SOIl, they acquire roots. With roots that form in the fall, it can stand up to winter's worst...temperatures down to 40 below zero. C or F Without roots, they are at the mercy of the environment around them...freezing temperatures, worms, mice, squirrels and what you. Without roots they cant form their stalk, their foliage, the bloom...they have not been fed to make that happen. You have planted them into cold, cold ground...they wont acquire roots...its too cold. When the warmer temperatures of spring arrive they will begin to go mushy and then rot. They have to, they are no different than other things in the ground...they decmpose. Sad to say, they should have gone into the ground when your mother gave them to you....and even at that time, chances are they wouldn't acquire roots...but hope springs eternal...better there than out of the ground. Now, planted in February soil....they don't have a prayer. I have a sneaky feeling you live in the south somewhere..hence the reason why they were available at XMAS. If they had gone into the ground at the time of purchase, then you could have looked forward to having a bulb garden. Planted as you did, into freezing ground....and of course, you watered them...ice crystals would have formed right away next to the tissue and begun their going mushy....and then rotting. Its a sad state when a bulb is purchased the instructions of when to plant is not understood to be IMPORTANT enough to believe and left to wither on the vine.

Hi Bullbuddie, Welcome to Garden Web! I am new to this forum and I don't see how to post a new question To start a new thread, scroll down past the list of messages on the main page here. You will find a box that says Post a Message to the Forum. I was going to email you privately but see there is no link on your member page to email you, thus you cannot be reached by other members. I suggest you go to the bottom any page here and click on Member Pages, and then Edit Your Personal Page, etc. Choose (from the drop down box toward the bottom of the form)Show my email address to Members and check the box "Allow other users to send you email via forms at our site. While on that page, I suggest you fill in your garden zone, and your state abbreviation, or something similar. When asking or answering questions, it is always nice to know the area of the country and climate involved. As far as moving your daffs once or twice...if it was me, I would only move them once. Granted it will take an additional season to get them where you really want them, but I 'think' they would fare much better that way. Sue

Nancy- I didn't think about it until you pointed it out but the tulips really are just in time for easter. Not a big deal for me now but it brings back memories of when I was a child. My dad really loved tulips and always had some planted. My mom and I always had to stand in front of the tulip display for in our easter outfits for pictures on Easter Sunday. I have always loved tulips as long as I can remember and I am sure that it goes back to these childhood memories. Christine- The tulips are the Scheepers Early Tulip Mix. When they started blooming this spring with the purple tulips, I was surprised to see that color. I went back to their website and checked again and sure enough, it was supposed to be a mix of hot colors like red, yellow, orange and blends but no purple or pink. But I like the purple in there, I think it looks good so I don't mind. The terracing does make it easier to show off the plants plus I can squeeze lots more in than I ever could if I had a flat yard. I am really glad that front yard space is terraced as it shows off the bulb disply so well. I had to look up camassia as I have never heard of it. Thanks for the suggestion but it doesn't appeal to be at all.

We have have many rainey days here but lots of sunny ones also :-)) What I do is snap off the seed head part of the stalk on the daffs every few days and or cut (at the very top) off the dying spent flowers. In that mixed daff collection pictured wave after wave of flowers opens. As some finish, others start. So deadheading keeps the mixture looking good even now and they started weeks and weeks ago. In fact they started the very, very beginning of April. Here is how they look now with the last wave flowering and I have cut off all the spent blooms leaving the flower stalk. Here you can see the daylily folliage running in front of the tulips. It should make the tulip folliage much less noticable. Again, as soon as the tulips drop their flower pedals, I will snap off the very top of the stem which has the seed head. I just leave folliage, don't much worry about it. I find it's gone on it's own soon enough and there is always something else going on in the garden to look at. In the two belgium block mini terraces running accross which is were the daffs are, I plan to plant zinnias for summer long color. I will use seedlings and just plant them between the daffodil folliage. I am sure there will be some lang time there between when the daff flowers are all gone and I get my zinnia seedlings in. I haven't even startted the seeds yet as it has been too cold. But I have been growing zinnias in that front section for the past two years. This was before I put in the belgium block mini terraces late last summer. That then allowed me to plant the area in bulbs last fall as planned.