Personally I like to move them when the tops are beginning to brown. At that point I can easily find them, I just move them like any leafy perennials. I just immediately replanting them wherever I want them to go..... unless it's a tulip. These I prefer to dig up, dry off, and replant in the fall. But just to be clear, the best method for nearly all spring bloomers is to wait till they die back, dig up, dry the bulbs, store dry during the summer and replant in early fall.... (it's just the other method fits into my own schedule better). -unless of course it's a specific bulb that doesn't like to dry off completely. Snowdrops and winter aconite come to mind.

The whole "spring bulb" and "fall bulb" labels can be confusing. Tulips/Daffodils/Crocus/Hyacinth and the like, for example - planted in the fall, but people generally call them spring bulbs because that's when they bloom. However, the bulbs you see for sale in the fall are the hardy plants that generally want a cold period and will survive the winter and come back year after year, like those I mentioned above. What you see for sale in the spring are the non-hardy bulbs and bulb-like plants that will not survive in the ground over winter, such as Dahlias, Caladiums, Elephant Ears, Glads, Cannas. Some people treat these as annuals, and others lift the roots and store them from year to year, replanting each spring. Of course, as you move further south, eventually you reach a zone for each of these things where it will be hardy outside through the winter, i.e., they will be perennials - for Glads and Cannas, we're probably talking US zone 7, a little further south for the other things mentioned. Still, they are traditionally sold in the spring because the merchants want to cover the whole range of both cold and warm zones with one sales period. The confusion comes because there are a lot of things you see packaged bare-root like bulbs which are for sale in both fall and spring - such as the Astilbe and Bleeding Heart you mention above and lots of other perennials. As you say, the packages look identical with the same contents and one shows fall planting and the other shows spring planting. These are the things that are successfully divided and transplanted any time they are dormant, which is from fall until they start to grow in the spring, so they are sold at both times. Lilies are a true bulb that is also in this category - the bulb never goes completely dormant, so they can put out new roots any time you transplant and will do well either spring or fall planted. As Cranebill mentions above, the best results for any given growing season will come if you get them in during the fall before, but I have always had success with them in the spring. Also, as Cranebill mentions above, if in doubt when spring comes, plant it anyway. The worst that can happen is that it won't grow, which is ASSURED if you don't plant it. - Steve

Newbie, don't waste your time.....the reason why spring bulbs are planted when they are is because the bulb needs a particular temperature range to promote ROOTS. Without a root, the tulip, the crocus, the daffodil bulb is just fodder for squirrels, mice, skunks and whathaveya. You didn't plant them when you were supposed to. Now you pay. They are useless unless you can keep them in cold storage until next fall. Chances of that....keeping a bulb for 7 months...is pretty nil. The bulbs will dry out and be useless. Its forever being said ---"oh, that's alright, just plant them, they're tough, they'll probably just grow foliage until next season"....and so on and so on. They wont. I suggest you throw them into the compost pile now so that in the fall what comes from them, might be used in your garden to promote bulbs that have been properly planted. Next fall....write across your calendars....BUY BULBS PLANT BULBS. Do this for the months of September/October/November/December.....whenever you get around to purchasing them. But, when you purchase....plant them IMMEDIATELY.

Hi Adam and everyone, Hmm. So it was not just me having little success with Minnow. Someone had problem with his Thalia earlier this year. I forgot where he got it from. Sun Disc/Sundisc didn't live long for me either. Just too crowded in my garden. Craigford is a mid season bloomer. Much earlier than Geranium. Looks almost like Geranium. Smells good too. re Leucojum. LOL. Amanda is right. Way too many leaves. Stay green longer than narcissi too. :-P But I love them. Planted only 25 the first year. Loved it so much I added 100 the next year. A mistake, because they multiply like rabbits. :-) I suggest that you plant no more than 25-30 and quite far apart, say 2' to give them room to increase. I like mine right in front of the border between Alchemilla mollis so I can admire its delicate beauty and Alchemilla can hide the Leucojum later in the season. Since it is white, it goes well with everything. I have clay soil. I learned that large size narcissi don't mind it one bit, but miniatures don't like it at all. I planted a couple hundred of N. bulbocodium on my lawn that had not really been cultivated hoping to get a drift of it. Didn't work. Only one bloomed then totally disappeared. Nell's reading suggestion is good. My soil is heavy clay. I have amended it over the years. In fact, I add leaves in the planting hole as I go. Here is what I actually do when I plant blulbs: Dig a deep hole, place a handfull of leaves and a pinch of bone meal at the bottom- a bit of soil-large bulb-a bit of soil & bone meal-a handful of leaves-a bit of soil with bone meal-minor or small bulb-soil-leaves-soil-another bulb-soil-leaves and a bit of soil. I call it composting in situ. LOL. My own invention. Works like charm. My garden beds is quite loamy now. Still rather heavy, though. I may plant 2 or 3 bulbs in one hole, depending on what I have. When I have mulch and/or compost I dump the whole thing on top of the beds whenever I clean them up.