Well, it's been days and no one has responded. I assume the reason is that the bulbs you list are not commonly grown. Still, the answer is to store them in a cool dark room, but not the refrigerator. You could put them under a bed in an air conditioned room if you don't have a basement. All things considered, you may be disappointed because all of those plants are usually sold and planted in the fall. It is possible that your bulbs were leftovers from last fall's selling season. If so, they may not still be viable.

Two spots...one partly shaded (but mostly sun) underneath dying bushes, the other shade under a tree. Both mulched. Which of these are Spring bulbs i'd plant now, and which ones should I wait until Fall to buy? Where would I buy them? This post was edited by edlincoln on Wed, May 15, 13 at 14:12

Picasa is FREE! That was one of the conditions for the photo hosting site when I was looking for one and trying to figure out how to do it! Once you figure it out it's incredibly easy, and if you decide to install it I'll help you figure out anything that doesn't make sense to you! There are "two parts" to Picasa! Picasa is software that lets you organize and edit your pictures. It doesn't actually "store" your pics, every time you start it it goes thru all the files on your computer and "finds" them all and puts them in whatever order/folders you put them into! It only takes a few seconds for it to load! All my pictures on my computer are in sub-folders in a picture folder, but it also "finds" pics anywhere else, like on the desktop. After you have it installed you can go to a "folder manager" and block it from scanning any files you don't want it to scan every time it starts! The folder manager lists all the files it's scanning, and you just "x" the ones you don't want it scanning. The second part is Picasa WebAlbums, which is where you put the pics to get the links you need to post them online. WebAlbums does actually store the pics you put in it, so you can access them from anywhere as long as you can get online. You get some free storage space in WebAlbums, I think it's 5 GB, but if you want/need more than that you need to pay for it. I sorta got in on the ground floor and I pay $5 a year for more space than I'll ever use, but it's higher now, but still quite reasonable. If you don't do videos, 5 GB really is a surprising amount of space! I just checked my storage and I'm using 1.33 GB of my (paid) up to 36 GB! I have 77 albums in WebAlbums now, and several thousand pics! In the past I've tried to explain this to people in words, and I was sitting here earlier trying to think of a better way to do it--to SHOW you how it's done, and it dawned on me that I could take screenshots of some of it to help explain it! Here goes! I recommend you right click on these pics and open them in a separate window so you can keep this thread visible at the same time! Also, I've put captions on the screenshots that you won't be able to see/read unless you do click on the pics! The first one is a pic of the basic Picasa window showing my list of folders down the left side and the first few pics in one of my folders on the right. This is where they wind up when you hook up your camera to the computer (or put your card in the computer) to import the pics into the computer. I don't have a screenshot of it 'cause it's basically just a blank window if I don't have a card in the computer to import pics from, but this Picasa window goes to the Import window and all the pics "appear." Once they appear you decide if you want to import all of them or just some of them--ones you imported earlier are automatically excluded. When you decide which ones you want to import and click import they all go into a folder like the folders you see in the left column in this screenshot! [I have a Mac so if you have a PC the desktop background is going to look very different! Had two PC's and LOVE my Mac!] This one shows what happens when you double click on an individual pic, and this is where you do any editing and captioning you may want to do. The editing functions are the little boxes in the left column. If you want to see it more clearly, click on the pic and then click on the little magnifying glass on top and wait for it to come up. You can make it bigger yet by clicking on the + on the top left corner of the magnified view! This one is the same as the last one but it shows some more of the editing possibilities on the left side. Read the caption for more! This shows the main Picasa WebAlbums screen with my albums. When I "open" the albums I usually do it in a separate window so I can open several of them side by side if I'm looking for something--usually a pic of a particular plant/flower! This is what an individual album looks like. The links for posting an entire album on RMG/online are on the right side. (I post individual pics, have never posted a whole album online!) See the caption, and see the next pic! This is what happens when you click on a pic in an album. and on the right side is where you get the links to post the individual pic online! See the caption, and the next pic! This is the same pic in that album, but in this one, on the right side I've clicked on the "Link to this photo" and it drops down so you can decide what size you want to post and then copy the link. The pics I'm posting here are "medium!" Again, see the caption for more! This is a screenshot of what happens when you click on the magnifying glass up on top! To go back to the "regular" view you just click anywhere off the edge of the magnified view. More in the caption! That's all I was gonna post, but then it dawned on me you might want to know how you get the pics from Picasa into WebAlbums, so one more screenshot! This one goes back to the Picasa screen. I've "selected" the nine screenshots from the "folder" and they're (very small) in the "tray" in the lower left corner. After they're in the tray you just click on the big green button that says "share," and the little window on the right opens. In the little "Upload to WebAlbums" window you can either pick an existing WebAlbums album to upload them to, or you can click on "new" and create a new WebAlbums album. The you just click the green "Upload" button on the lower right and wait for them to finish uploading. Once you do it the first couple times it really is incredibly easy! I'm Olde! If I can do it, anybody can do it! A couple other things! After I started using Picasa they added "facial recognition" software to it! I hate that! I don't want to "name" my "people" and have them "identified all over the WWW!" I have face recognition disabled, and unless that's something you want I'll walk you thru how to disable it if you want! Picasa is google software, and you need a google account to sign in to use it. If you have a gmail account you're all set to go! Otherwise you'll need to set up a google account. I use gmail, and Picasa defaults to my "first" gmail account which "they" consider to be my primary account--I have several gmail accounts by now! If you decide you want to install it, google picasa download and go to the GOOGLE site to do it so you know you're not getting any "extras" along with the installation--if you know what I mean! There are versions for PCs and for Macs. I'm kind of assuming this will raise questions for you that I haven't answered! Let me know what doesn't make sense! I was SO glad for all the help I got back when I was trying to figure it out! If you want a laugh some day, here's a link to that original thread back in '07 when I was trying to figure out how to post pics and didn't have a CLUE! I was still stuck on trying to figure out which drive I was supposed to shove my camera into to get the pics "into" the computer! (I had one of those awful PCs back then, so this is all very outdated--but it's still pretty funny! And because of some changes Picasa made in what people can see when you link a pic, the Picasa pics I posted back then aren't clickable anymore! Back then if you posted one pic, people had access to the entire album! Now you can decide if you want them to just see the one pic, or the whole album! I'm hungry! Gonna go! Skybird P.S. Almost forgot this! I've read online that iPhoto can "mess" with PIcasa somehow, so if you have a Mac and have ever opened and used iPhoto for anything, disable it first. I tried iPhoto when I first got my Mac and didn't like it AT ALL! Then my hard drive crashed (love my Mac in spite of that!), and when I got the new hard drive I never opened or did anything with iPhoto so it wasn't a problem when I installed Picasa! P.P.S. Another thing! When you edit your pics in Picasa, the "original pics" are "unchanged." The "changes" are stored in the Picasa program, but you can ALWAYS go back to the original if you want to for any reason. Or you can have the original version AND the edited version. As I understand it, other editing sites "change the original" so you can't "get it back" once you've altered it. Not positive about that, but I know for sure in Picasa you always have access to the original! I'm hungry!!! Here is a link that might be useful: 2007 Photo Hosting Sites thread

Due to the mild winters throughout a large portion of California, certain popular bulbs in other parts of the country do poorly here. But on the bright side, we can leave in the ground many bulb species that would never make it through a New England winter! Tulips: Unfortunately the hybrid commercial tulips like the Darwins and Triumphs are poorly adapted here and need special treatment to bloom well. Tulips should be purchased as soon as offered in early September, then stored in the refrigerator (NOT the freezer) until the weather cools off in late October or early November. Without this chilling, the plants will emerge stunted, and the flower stem will not elongate, resulting in the flower blooming down in the base of the leaves. Try to get the bulbs into the ground within a half hour of removing from the refigerator, DON"T leave them sitting in the sun for a few hours while you are digging your holes, that will undo a lot of the artificial chilling. Plant deeply, about nine or ten inches down. After blooming the tulips will break up into several smaller bulbs that will not bloom next year, and these never seem to grow on to flowering size. Thus tulips are considered an annual, and are replanted fresh every year. Because of this it is best to shop around to get the best price on bulbs, since you are only going to get one flower from each bulb. The large home improvement stores are generally the best source for cheap tulip bulbs. A few species tulips will naturalize here, foremost T. sylvestis, bakeri, clusiana and saxatilis. Daffodils: These are easy here, and come back every year. There is a common misperception that these are hurt by water during the summer. This is not true, and they will decline and eventually disappear if not given some summer watering (they will rot out, however, if planted in poorly draining heavy soil). Newbies are often surprised to see daffodils blooming in late fall. These are the Tazetta division of daffodils, the ones commonly grown for forcing indoors. The only daffodils that do not do well in California are the Poeticus division, they bloom so late in spring the weather is too warm and they don't amount to much. Crocus: The regular hybrid crocuses are hit or miss, they will bloom, and come back for a few years, then peter out. Some of the species are good repeaters, C. tommasinianus, sieberi and ancyrensis especially. Hyacinth: These are very similar to tulips, and the same problems apply. Buy cheap bulbs in fall, refrigerate for six to eight weeks, plant when the weather cools off. Don't expect more than one year of bloom. Galanthus(snowdrops) Same as for tulips. Alliums, Ipheion, Leucojum and Muscari do VERY well here, need no special treatment, and can become invasive, hard to eliminate pests, so keep and eye on them. One of the special delights of gardening in California is the ability to grow the less hardy, beautiful irids. This includes the common Dutch iris, as well as many lesser known but very lovely South Africans like Freesia, Sparaxis, Ixia, and Babiana. These sometimes startle Newbies by coming up in fall. This is normal, the foliage will get a bit tatty by spring, but it does not hurt the plant and they will bloom in spring on schedule! Here are some additional bulbs recommended for Southern California by Gardenguru1950 1. Not ALL daffodils/narcissus naturalize here, especially in SOUTHERN California. Here are some that are best for that purpose: Accent -- large pink cup, white petals Arctic Gold -- trumpet with deep all-yellow flowers Bantam -- large orange-red cup and smallish, deep yellow petals Binkie -- large sulfur yellow cup that fades to white, sulfur petals Bridal Crown -- double-flowered, pure white Carlton -- large-cupped, soft yellow Ceylon -- large pale orange deepening to orange red cup, golden petals Cheerfulness -- white double tazetta Delibes -- large-cupped, yellow petals, red-banded yellow cup Erlicher -- small very fragrant, double white flowers in clusters February Gold -- cyclamineus, golden yellow trumpet and pale yellow swept-back petals Festivity -- yellow trumpet, large clear yellow cup, white overlapping petals Galway -- large-cupped all gold Geranium -- tazetta, white and orange flowers Green Island -- greenish lemon cup, white petals Hawera -- triandrus, soft yellow, recurved petals, 5 Jenny -- cyclamineus hybrid, white and yellow, swept-back petals Kinglet -- jonquilla hybrid, fragrant, yellow petals, orange cups Mabel Taylor -- large pink cup, ivory petals Matador -- tazetta, bright orange cup and sulfur petals, several fragrant flowers per stem Martha Washington -- tazetta, red cups, white petals Mount Hood -- trumpet, giant all white Rustom Pasha -- large trumpet all yellow Silver Chimes -- tazetta, several fragrant creamy white flowers per stem Sir Winston Churchill -- double-flowered version of Geranium Suzy -- jonquilla, small red cups, ruffled yellow petals Sweetness -- jonquilla, rich yellow, fragrant Thalia -- triandrus, all-white, 2-3 per stem Trevithian -- jonquilla, bright yellow, 2-3 per stem Vigil -- all white trumpet Vireo -- jonquilla, fragrant, tiny greenish cup and gold petals, 9 Wee Bee -- trumpet, tiny all-golden, 5 Yellow Cheerfulness -- double tazetta, creamy yellow Species: Narcissus bulbocodium Narcissus jonquilla Narcissus viridiflorus -- tiny yellow-green flowers; fall-blooming 2. Some other good bulbs: Allium neopolitanum Cowanii FLOWERING ONION Allium sphaerocephalon DRUMSTICKS Anemone blanda GREEK WINDFLOWER Anemone coronaria POPPY-FLOWERED ANEMONE Anemone x fulgens SCARLET WINDFLOWER Arum italicum (shade) ITALIAN ARUM Babiana (many) BABOON FLOWER Calochortus (many, some difficult) MARIPOSA LILIES Chlidanthus fragrans PERFUMED FAIRY LILY Cyclamen hederifolium (shade) HARDY CYCLAMEN Cyclamen persicum (shade) CYCLAMEN Crocosmia MONTBRETIA Crocus imperati ITALIAN CROCUS Freesia (including Lapeyrousia) FREESIA Galtonia candicans (for summer color) SUMMER HYACINTH Gladiolus x hybrida GLADIOLA Gladiolus tristis LEMON GLADIOLA Hyacinthoides hispanica SPANISH BLUEBELL Ipheion uniflorum SPRING STAR FLOWER Iris xiphium ENGLISH/DUTCH IRIS Ixia hybrids CORN LILY Lachenalia aloides CAPE COWSLIP Leucojum vernum SPRING SNOWFLAKE Muscari armeniacum GRAPE HYACINTH Narcissus (see separate list) NARCISSUS, DAFFODIL Nectaroscordum siculum NECTAROSCORDUM Ornithogalum arabicum STAR OF BETHLEHEM Ornithogalum narbonense NARBONE STAR Ornithogalum thyrsoides CHINCHERINCHEE Oxalis purpurea CAPE SORRELL Ranunculus asiaticus RANUNCULUS Scilla peruviana PERUVIAN SQUILL Sparaxis tricolor HARLEQUIN FLOWER Triteleia Queen Fabiola BRODIAEA Tritonia crocata FLAME FREESIA Veltheimia bracteata (shade) CAPE FOREST LILY Watsonia BUGLE LILY 3. Soe great California native bulbs: Bloomeria crocea GOLDEN STARS Brodiaea elegans HARVEST BRODIAEA Calochortus (many) MARIPOSA LILY Chlorogalum pomeridianum AMOLE, SOAP PLANT Dichelostemma pulchellum BLUE DICKS, WILD HYACINTH Lilium humboldtii HUMBOLDT LILY Lilium washingtonianum WASHINGTON LILY Triteleia hyacinthina WHITE HYACINTH BRODIAEA Triteleia laxa PRETTY FACE, TRIPLET LILY 4. Some good TULIPS for us: Tulipa clusiana LADY TULIP Tulipa clusiana chrysantha GOLDEN TULIP Tulipa saxatilis MIDDLE-EAST TULIP Tulipa sylvestris FRAGRANT WILD TULIP ... and one very good Crocus(a fall bloomer): Crocus sativus (SAFFRON CROCUS)