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

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

I certainly am not going to be digging up those bulbs, they were enough work to get planted last fall. Plus I want them to return each year so I can have a spring show each year. I love spring bulbs, they produce lots of bloom and flowers at a time not much is going on in the garden. I have wanted to plant a large grouping for a long time now and just got to the point in my garden when I was ready to do it. I have bulbs elsewhere, (not as many as this) and daffs around the garden so I know how their follage dies back. As far as the folliage dying back and looking messy, I have had bulbs before and while their folliage doesn't look great while it dries out and turns brown, I don't think it's as much of a big deal as the above Poster has pointed out. I just ignore the old folliage after I cut or pinch off any developing seed heads. Eventually the folliage all dissappears anyway. I never lay down, cut or do anything else to the folliage as I want it to set next years bulbs. I intend to plant Zinnias in those two belgium block planters were the daffs are accross the front. Also intend to plant zinnias up on top were the bulbs are at the foot of the trellis shown in my other post oif bulbs blooming now in my yard. I am not going to be cutting back any folliage, just sticking started plants between those daff leaves. The tulips along the front are planted in back of and between two rows of daylilies. The leaves on those daylilies are still not compleatly grown out. I am sure that the daylilies will hide the tulip folliage nicely. Thank you all for the compliments. I am so pleased with the way that it all looks and enjoying the spring show so much.

Would Lamium with silvery leaves and either white or 'pink' flowers be an option? I'm guessing you'd want to naturalise the bulbs as the maples sometimes have a lot of near surface feeder roots and wouldn't appreciate the annual ritual of bulb lifting. Smaller bulbs, such as snowdrops, species tulips, and some of the multi-flowered Narcissus could come up in open patches or through the Lamium. Vinca minor would give a deep green cover under the maple and would probably flower. It works pretty well for disguising/distracting from withered brown leaves. Apart from a few 'hang on a see what's for Christmas' Narcissus (such as Earlicheer) most of them have finished by late spring, early summer and are ready for lifting if necessary. (Leaves have browned, dried off, fallen away. Check that your area is not plagued by Narcissus fly. They lay their eggs just where the leaves have left a hole. When they hatch the maggots settle in to the middle of the bulb and feast on next year's flower and leaves. Disheartening - and squishing the little pests is no consolation at all.)