There are no discounts until after Xmas, usually, and they tend to be pre-packed bulbs. Wholesalers, at least the ones I use, rarely have any sales at all. I think they often either sell all their stock or donate leftovers to schools and community groups. After sitting in garden centres for 3 months, some bulbs will be OK and others less so, but I don't tend to buy them unless it was some really desirable bulb I was willing to take a chance on.

Woody, galanthus do very badly as dried bulbs, even when planted in decent condition...if there is any chance of buying them 'in the green' this is the best way to buy them. Do divide yours - with regular division, a clump can double in size every year. They are one of the more rewarding bulbs to lift and split.

Lilies are also a bit dubious too - they don't really achieve dormancy so need to go in the ground as soon as possible after being lifted.. I would pay the extra money and order from a supplier like the Lily Garden, all day, everyday as bulbs are the gardener's friends.

Rosaprimula, I have watched Monty on his gardening show, suggest digging the clumps up right after bloom to divide and replant. I've been trying for 3 years to get around to that and I still haven't. [g]

You can dig them up at any time to split and divide...it is just easier to do it after blooming because you know where they are.

Exactly!! 😀

I've bought locally off the rack at a discount pretty late in the season and never had any problem. But, going this route allows me to inspect the bulbs. I wonder if the poor quality of the bulbs was due more to the company than the fact they were discounted -- I mean, a shovel through a lily bulb or shipping something that looks like half a bulb sounds like poor quality control regardless of price.

heh heh, prairiemoon you saved me from a bit of work this weekend :)

I didn't hear about the Van Engelen sale until later in the afternoon, and was all excited to buy a few last minute snowdrops. Had some big allium and fritillaria in the cart and then made it down to G and saw the galanthus elwesii were all sold out. I guess you got to them first. Without the snowdrops my game plan was ruined, so I closed things up and went to etsy to buy some consolation succulents. They're not snowdrops but still awfully cute.

Not to admit I've bought a lot of snowdrops, but maybe a person I know has, and that person had ok luck with G. woronowii, good luck with G. elwesii and some of the named types, but never any luck with the galanthus nivalis bulbs, single or double. nivalis is the 'common' snowdrop and as campanula mentioned they do not handle well being dried and shipped like the other Holland bulbs. Actually I think most of the big shippers know this since for as "common" as the common snowdrop is both Brent and Becky and Van engelen have dropped it from their lists... I think... last time I looked... for a couple years Brent and Becky tried to sell it 'in the green' but I think even then they had to rely on fresh off the boat bulbs, and from what I heard even those freshest bulbs still didn't root and grow well enough to sell. I don't see them listing common snowdrops, but a friend had good luck with bulbs from Terra Ceie Farms in North Carolina and it's possible they actually grow them there and that's the reason for the success.

I'd get in touch with them about the crappy bulbs. They were clearance, but not free, and you should be able to get something back. Several years ago I bought some clearance fritillaria which looked like garbage and they refunded the money without a problem... most years though I've had very good results with the late season buys and I hope yours turn out fine!

I bought a bunch from Holland bulb farm in Novemberat some discount only to see them drop prices further within a week. Bulbs were fine for tulips, a few were suspect for daffodils but several of the frittilaria were falling apart (so they added an extra bag). Ranunculus we're the biggest disappointment in terms of both size and quality.

And then I found bags of tulips and daffodils (pretty good quality) in the LIDL store $2 for a bag of 8/10! That is 1/2 to a 1/3 of Holland bulb farm discounted prices! I picked a couple and might pick a few more next time I pop in there. It has been unseasonably warm here so far so plenty of time to pot them up.

Katob - I got the ‘Hippolyta’ variety. Interesting as you and Campanula point out, they don’t always do well as dried bulbs. That may explain why I’ve had rotten luck in the past when I’ve planted them. Now I’ll be more motivated to move them green.

At least I did get to digging up a huge patch of miniature daffodils that turned into a bonanza of 40 pots of 3 bulbs a piece, so I am more excited to see those come spring. It was not easy getting those all in the ground in time. [g] And now I know, not to buy galanthus in dry bulb form. And since I had such a tremendous experience with the miniature daffodil, I will be motivated to dig up my own bulbs to increase them. Just have to do that in a timely fashion. and new bulbs - better to be the first to order and buy less, pay more.

Wednesday I wanted to get out of the house (rainy dreary week..continuing indefinitely it seems) and I drove to the largest nursery in our area (20 minute drive one way). I walked around their greenhouses (nothing really interesting to me, though the poinsettia crop continues to advance in colorful forms) and found nothing I really wanted to buy. Then on my way out I found leftover bulbs on significant discount. There weren't many and some I wouldn't buy (because they don't handle dryness well, anemone blanda being one). Anyway I ended up with 5 crocus chrysanthus and 5 muscari. Yep, all of $3.38 with three plastic houseplant saucers thrown in mix (which I can always use...but mainly got to hold the bulbs (no bags there)) *lol*

So yes, it's kinda buyer beware, but at least in person I can assess the bulbs. I can tell the difference in some bulbs in being held this long as to how they perform in the spring...but I have hopes that these two small clumps may do ok. Here muscari begins to sprout in August or September and typically has winter foliage till they bloom. It also won't be but about another month before the first of the snow crocus begin to emerge from the soil.

Where are you dbarron? I won't see crocus until March,

I am no sort of galanthophile but I do know a bit about Hippolyta because I have these, and a few other Greatorex F1 varieties in my woods. They grow around the margins, in the old land-drain ditches and nearby hedgerows, as they were bred only half a mile up the road. in Brundall. The seeds have been dispersed by ants which crave the fatty eliaosomes attached to the seeds. So although I don't have the exact named varieties, quite a few of the snowdrops have the vigour of their bi-generic parents (most of the doubles are hybrids of g.plicatus and g.nivalis). Some of my snowdrops show their plicatus heritage but all of them are doubles - later flowering and giving good dense coverage in the landscape (although they lack the grace of the singles).

They are great colonisers - I promise your clumps will expand significantly if you lift and divide every 2 years. And you might even want to have a go at twin scaling - you can easily get 16 snowdrops out of one bulb (a skilled propagator can get up to 64...and they will be at flowering size in 3 -4 years.

I did have a couple with yellow ovaries, a swap from 'Mr.Snowdrop', Joe Sharman, the seller of record-breaking bulbs (sometimes for more than £1,500 each!). Mine are under the care of my eldest since I would no doubt kill them, like so many easily overlooked treasures in my unruly plot. They are slow to increase and I have not dared take a scalpel to the basal plate, so I won't be making my fortune any time soon.

I have G. nivalis and that has reseeded very well, but other doubles I tried, didn't really prosper and I'd bet I'd have a hard time finding one. I did start them all by bulbs in the Fall. Out of 50 bulbs this year, I probably had 35 good ones and I'm hoping that enough of them will show up and reseed.

Place your Hippolyta in your sunniest position, Prairie. I know a lot of galanthus are great in shade, but these little doubles will really appreciate some dappled sunlight...or afternoon sun, They grow along the western edge of the wood and in the field margins, facing south and west. They flower much later than nivalis, with broad, almost stubby leaves. They are vigorous and tough, so once you have gotten a handful established, they will be with you for years - my clumps are over 70 years old (according to my neighbouring farmer).

That's good rosaprimula, my shady tree edges are on my West side too. That is where my nivalis is located too. I planted these new bulbs in multiple locations to see which they will prefer. 70 year old clumps?!! lol Does that mean they are native to that property?

Tell me are you anywhere near Beth Chatto's garden? I'd have to say her book is my #1 book on woodlands. To me, it would be hard to improve upon such a gorgeous woodland garden. It looks so natural, yet I'm sure she worked hard making it look that way.

Arkansas, and I meant foliage. I won't usually see the earliest crocus BLOOMS till February myself (and March in a cold winter). So far, I have had mostly above freezing temps, still have green on the crinum lilies, and a few other tender foliage things. I've just noticed in this last week, the last of the fall color is going (blueberries, native euonymus, fothergilla,etc)...surprisingly since we had a very early 22F frost/freeze.

It's snowing a little this morning and for as proud as I was earlier for not taking up on any of the clearance offers, I'm slightly anxious now about what I might have missed out on. A big new patch of tulips would have been nice or a couple bags of super cheap snow crocus for the rabbits to eat would also have been great. Oh well. The ground will freeze soon enough and I'll start dreaming about spring sprouts and start poking around in the mulch every time the thermometer goes above freezing.

Unless I find something to pot up and force inside... hmmmm.

I do have a few autumn snowdrops in bloom but if we get snow this week they'll be buried of course. If this were a fancier garden I'd get a few antique glass cloches to cover the most special things, but here they'll be lucky to get an old 5 gallon bucket over them.

Cyclamen coum should be in bloom soon...and I have 100 seeds of it to further augment my collection about to germinate. 100 seeds of cyclamen hederifolium mostly sprouted and sending up first leaves. I like their foliage in winter as well. Hellebores (while not bulbs or tubers) are sending up new growth..in a month the flower buds will be clearly visible, though will take them another 2 months to get to the open stage (well most of them).

No, not really near Beth Chatto's garden (although I make an effort to visit at least once a year). The dry garden is the main attraction for me. My wood is in the top eastern corner of Norfolk, not far from the coast, in the waterlands between Norwich and Yarmouth (the Broads), while I actually live in Cambridge,

My wood was planted in 1947, and the first colonies of snowdrops followed soon after. It's fun to look at old maps in the local archives as the landscape of east of england has been extensively changed by human activities (draining, peat digging, agriculture).

Of all the possible gardening chores that could exist, planting bulbs is likely at the bottom of my list. I find it to be very tedious, needing to be done at a time of year when I have too many other demands for my time and with nothing to show for the effort......at least short term :-) I am far too much of an instant gratification gardener to have to wait the better part of 6 months for something to happen......probably one of the reasons I grow almost nothing from seed! LOL!

So I cheat. I purchase almost all of my spring flowering bulbs as started plants in late winter. Some I will enjoy indoors before planting out later and some will get planted immediately. I tend to do this with later flowering bulbs and tubers as well - plant started ('in the green') plants.

Certainly no bargains to be had doing it this way but it suits me.

What a great deal especially the F. lutea! The F. a. was one I was not familiar with but I like it as I do all the Frits. I can't grow it in my zone but you must be at least 5b if not 6.

gdinieontario - I love Fritillarias, but I never planted them after reading that they are favored by one of the critters I don't want to welcome to the banquet. [g] Is it moles? I like the dark mauvy checkerboard looking variety, which ever that is. Do you already have some growing in your garden? That was quite the bargain!

Fritillaria meleagris is the checkered lily. Love them but they have not multiplied well, probably critters digging them. For me it is usually squirrels/chipmunks.

rosaprimula - I lose my bearings trying to figure out what part of England is which. I read novels constantly that are set in England and Scotland. My mother's family were from Scotland, but I've never been across the pond. I'll look you up on the map though. The most recent novel I've been reading was set in Cornwall. I've always thought it must be very special to live in England where so much of the population seems to love gardening.

GGal - I do buy potted bulbs for the house in early spring and plant them out in the garden when they've gone by. The hyacinths I've done that with have all come back for me. You get to enjoy them in the house and then every year in the garden, a win-win.

I guess though that you have a more limited number of vareties to choose from doing it that way. In this area, in the nurseries in late winter, only a few common varieties of bulbs are in pots to purchase. Some, like hyacinths are not even named varieties. And I've become enamored of miniature daffodils and I never see those potted up.

dbarron - what zone are you? My Hellebores are never early here. I keep wanting to add Cyclamen to the garden - they take shade, right? I also like the foliage. Do they bloom in Fall? You're starting them from seed? Are they difficult?

katob - We are getting snow in the western part of the state today only. I’d love to see some for Christmas.

I have stopped buying crocus because something has eaten a lot of mine. I was starting to collect different varieties and most of them are gone, but I have one spot where they are still doing well, under a large mature Maple, that is also growing a large patch of vinca. For some reason, the critters leave that area alone. So I am content to buy other kinds of bulbs.

There is always another sale! And you should be proud to have resisted this fall. [g]

Peren.all, we are in zone 6b. I had a great little colony of white, rosy and purple F. meleagris, which was slowly expanding among the hellebores under the apple tree. Then the scarlet lily beetle struck. Despite hand picking them, beetles and disgusting grubs, several times a day for many years, I could not get rid of them. Until last year: by that time they had killed all my lilies and most fritillarias, so the miserable things kind of died out. I did not remember about the bugs before I bought them, so we will see. I put them as far away as possible from the apple tree, which is about 20 ft ;-). I still have one or two F. uva-vulpis in the front garden, the rest has been eaten by the beetles too.

Prairiemoon, I don't know what eats them from below, but I don't have moles here in the burbs, and I have never had them attacked by burrowing critters. But the bugs are bad enough...

Dbarron, I envy you your cyclamen. They are among my absolute favourites. I have a few very nice coum and hederifolium, but they tend to die out after a few years in my heavy clay. I got them from someone a 20 minute drive from here, but he has beautiful loamy soil, the best around here. They thrive for him, they kind of survive for me. I do have seedlings, but not many make it here. Many years ago I visited an old home in the Netherlands in early spring. Under the shrubs there they grew like weeds. I wanted to put up a tent there and just sit and stare at them... So glorious!

I must have very plebian tastes in bulbs as the started bulbs on offer here are the ones I would normally purchase and plant as dormant bulbs. If I was motivated to do so :-)) It does require several trips to the nursery as not all the bulbs are available immediately and what they do have in stock sells out quickly. Generally I buy a few each season to expand my existing stock or to pot up in containers - galanthus/snowdrops, fritillaria meleagris/checker lily, 'Cream Beauty' crocus, 'Tete a tete' early mini daffs, 'Cheerfulness' and 'Poeticus' daffs and hyacinths. I rarely buy any tulips....too many creatures like to snack on them, they are reluctant to perennialize and they are dirt cheap to buy as cut flowers here where they grow them by the acres for just that purpose.

GdinieOntario - OH - right! It was the red lily beetle that was the reason I avoided the Fritillaria! Thanks for reminding me! I already had it in my garden, so I didn't want to waste my money on Fritillaria and give the RLLBeetle more to attract it to the garden.

And you reminded me of the reason I haven't gotten cyclamen yet either, I have clay here too.

GGal - Not because of varieties needing to be exotic, but maybe I just like a lot of choices. And I’m usually looking for specific varieties of daffodils that might give me a better chance of increasing. And now that we seem to be getting more late frosts in the spring, I’ve shifted to purchasing late blooming bulbs rather than early blooms. I have only one tulip on my property. I bought them when we first moved here, not knowing they don’t always come back. I probably planted a half dozen varieties but only one has come back every year for the last 25 years - ‘Apricot Beauty’. It’s a keeper.

I have wet clay, but I have found that careful siting works well. Usually under a roof overhang or under trees/shrubs.

Cyclamen hederifolium are delightfully easy, I planted 7 (7 seeds from Plant World, cyclamen x hillebrandii (a hybrid))I started in 2019 (yes that's right) out this fall. Bulbs do not bloom the same year (typically) :) I'm almost worried (like that's a problem) that the 100 seeds from Jellitos will afford me too many plants. As I noted, the coum haven't yet sprouted but I have a small trail of baby coums (ants I suppose) leading from my test coum outside (to see if it would live/work). I expect sprouting any day. They're really neat because the first thing that emerges is the tuber and it is very very soon bigger than the seed, then a single leaf will emerge from the tuber. Next growing phase (with hillebranii it never ended while growing on my windowsill for 3 years) a couple more leaves, etc.

I have some tulipa sprengei seeds that are just completing their vernalization before they go in the fridge for six weeks (I have too many slugs to sow things outside). Seeds are a LOT cheaper than bulbs...and all they need is time and attention to become bulbs. Since sprengeri is regarded as a weed tulip, hopefully that means I can get some to thrive in my wetland (under trees).

dbarron, you must enjoy starting from seed. I don't have the patience to wait 3 years from seed to plant out. It does sound very interesting though. Good luck with the cyclamen and the tulips!

It's really no more exacting that taking care of a house plant for three years...water it, fertilize occassionally, maybe rotate it. Possibly repot it (I didn't when I only had 7, but I sure will need to after first season with 100 possible seedlings). I also don't plan to house plant these for three years, I was concerned about the hardiness of the hybrid, and I was determined to see the flower before I possibly sacrificed them to the frost god. So far so good on that.
If you consider $14 as an average tuber cost...just imagine.

dbarron - I actually love starting seed, but my house doesn't offer me a great location for plants indoors. I don't have even one southern window and my best windows are East and West but have a degree of shade from mature trees nearby. I do have houseplants but I stick to all low light plants and do fine with those. Anything else needs to be under lights and I can't see using lights 365 days a year for 3 years. It surely wouldn't save any money....lol. So my focus is more on vegetable gardening and the landscape, which is challenging enough to keep up with for me. I never get to the bottom of my to do list and when October comes, I'm ready for a break from gardening, and by April, I can't wait to get back outside.

With 100 seedlings, you could start your own Etsy business! There are a lot of sellers of plants and seeds on Etsy. Just think, you could save money and make money at the same tmie.

Well I have four (including one double bay) southern windows, two east, one west, three north windows (including double glass doors). So...I have plenty of light for various plants. First house I've been able to say *THAT* in.
Lol, I would not thrive dealing with customers...they aren't as pliant as plants and shipping cost so much these days (plus the hassle). If I feel I have more than I would like to sprinkle around the yard (and try different locations), I might list some on Ebay and see if I can tolerate dealing with people.....

As you may have seen elsewhere, I live in what is a slug infested swamp, and siting for drainage is particularly important. There are almost no annual plants that can deal with my rainfall. Everything drowns (or is slug eaten) early in the year and only when the rainfall slacks off (June or July) can most annuals make it. Then it often doesn't rain for week or months. So...edible gardening doesn't work out (nor do zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, etc). My best success is typically things that can tolerate the wet and flower by mid summer. Not to say I don't have things that extend the bloom or that I don't water, but that's what naturally thrives. I adore bulbs, but many can't take the wetness. I have some tulips species that have done well (with careful siting) for a number of years and also some crocus. South American bulbs (Rhodophiala, crinums, ipheion) seem to do really well.

DBarron - I am pea green with envy having ALL those sunny windows! I would be in heaven! lol But I've never had to deal with a wet property. It seems to be the opposite problem I have with not enough rainfall. I used to feel I was getting just enough, but I guess not really because I was always having to supplement rainfall. Last year was so dry I lost plants and I'm going to be doing more rainfall collection which seems to be the opposite of your problem. If that is the case, it's wonderful that you have so many good windows to be able to grow indoors. Maybe you could start vegetable seeds indoors and grow veggies in pots outside in the summer? Lots of veggies can be grown in pots. Peppers and Lettuce do very well. Tomatoes.

Dbarron, it sounds like you must have had a challenging road in gardening! I didn't realize. What kinds of crocusbdo well for you? Tommies and Dutchies? For me snow crocus are only a temporary success usually. I lose them to squirrels and wet soil, I think.

I hit up HD and Lowes for end of season bulbs--I feel each one through the package to check for firmness/rot. It seems like those are available sooner at a discount that mail order sources--I'm worried that bulbs by mail at this point in the season are in danger of freezing and thawing during shipment or arriving too late (when the ground is frozen solid), so I've never given mail order bulbs a chance.

Tommies, I don't even try the dutch hybrids (don't really like them), some other species like chrysanthus (some luck), corsicus, fleischeri, versicolor. Fall crocus (pulchellus, speciosus, and strangely medius). Yes, it's find JUST the right spot for them to survive (usually under thirsty perennials).

My parents last home was about 20 miles away and there were chysanthus forms there that I planted when I was in high school (like 40 yrs ago) still living...considerably more well drained there though. Darn, even had a few colonies of snowdrops that had survived that long (into patches). Every house I've lived in forces me to redefine what grows well there. One about 100 miles away, any crocus did well (a bit drier, oklahoma).

Violetsnapdragon - I don't usually order late either but we were still having very warm temperatures and luckily they got here just in the nick of time. Two days after they arrived, the forecast was for low 40s for highs during the day and 20s at night for the next 7 days, so I got them into the ground that day. I intentionally ordered only small bulbs - scillas and galanthus to make it easier to get them in. And I threw in the 5 stargazer lilies. I didn't get all the scilla in, but I did have 100. I have about 30 left. If it doesn't warm up and give me some workable soil, I'm going to pot them up and bring them in the house.

I do agree that growing bulbous plants and other geophytes from seeds is surprisingly easy. Many start flowering within 3 years...and some, such as anemone coronaria, ranunculus asiaticus, albuca, ipheon, calochortus, cyclamen, watsonia, can be flowering by the second year (or first summer). For some flowers, growing from seed is the only way to get hold of flowering plants. Dahlia, for example, will flower in the first season (from seed) and is a good way to get hold of species such as d.coccineaY or d.merckii. You mention t,sprengeri, Danny. These gorgeous tulips (my favourites of all) cost eye watering sums of money (If they can be found at all) because they have teeny bulbs with dropper roots which pull them deep into the soil (even escaping through the drainage holes in the pots). A nightmare for growers so they rarely, if ever, feature in merchant's inventories. However, you can sow them direct, somewhere which will be undisturbed, ignore them and they will be up in flower in 4years...with no effort whatsoever apart from the initial poke in the soil. Agapanthus can also be in flower by the third season.

They don't need windowsills - I grow them on my outdoor potting table, on top of my worm bin, sitting on the empty winter benches and, of course, in the (currently freezing) greenhouse.

I am a tad concerned for a bunch of current tiny seedlings...which are frozen solid. I put a tiny paraffin heater in the greenhouse...and am doing the 'candles under terracotta pots' trick. Still, the seed sowing season has just got going so any losses now can be re-sown later. I don't get the HPS seeds until March, so have to do a quickie forced stratification to kickstart a few of them into growth...or will wait till autumn. There are only a couple of months in the year when I am not sowing a few seeds...

Have fun doing yours, Prairie - there are not many better treatments for seasonal drear, than sowing hope.

We just went and fetched our Christmas tree. The garden centre had all bags of bulbs marked down to £1 ($1.25). So that could be a single Allium Globemaster or 50 mixed tulips. But I didn't get any. It is perishing cold here, - 6c (21f) this morning. Very, very unusual. Definitely not bulb planting weather. Anyway, I have plenty of green shoots already showing. When this cold snap passes, supposedly at the weekend, the snowdrops won't be far behind.

I am intrigued by the info that dahlias can be grown from seed and flower the first season--I'm always looking for a new garden experiment. A bulb tip that maybe you all know already: When I buy bulbs very late for a bargain price, I pot them up in large planters. The soil is easier to work with than my rocky soil. After the pots finish blooming in early Spring, I cut them back and plant annuals. Sometimes I get a repeat performance from the bulbs the next season but, if I don't, it's okay because I paid so little for them in the first place.

After Thanksgiving, our local big box stores mark everything 50% off. They don't offer a wide selection, so if you just want flowers and don't seek a rare cultivar, it's a good option. You'll pay about 50 cents per bulb. And you can inspect before buying.

For most, you can plant any time, but I think they need a cold period before they bloom. Something like 6 weeks of soil temperature at or below 40F. Probably varies between types.

I love a good garden deal. My area tends to have a lot of sales, but there’s no method to the madness: you just have to be around when they put them out. Last year one of the nurseries had loads of bulbs left over, everything 75%, and they just couldn’t move them. I’m sure they ended up dumping most of them. Last fall I resisted adding new bulbs as I was too depressed, stressed and exhausted from work - so I said this is my opportunity to see what comes this year, cull, and plan for any new plantings next fall.