Now - I've just brought some bulbs and it says to plant from august onwards. I'm doing mine when the weather perks up :o)

Busy - sorry to disagree, but tulips need to be planted later....from October onwards. All the other spring bulbs can go in ASAP. I think it's to help against the onset of tulip fire disease.

Thanks Spritz, glad you said! Shame though, I had planned on digging a new bed for bulbs at the weekend :o( Oh my, I've never heard of tulip fire disease...sounds fatal lol! :o))

Sorry, Spritz, I don't go with your argument. Ours go in the ground when we get them. What is the difference between planting in July/August and leaving the bulbs in the ground permanently, as we do? Tulip fire disease is a virus and is spread by sap sucking insects, greenfly, on the foliage. As they are now dormant bulbs the greenfly don't have any foliager to feed on so can't spread the virus.

Hmmm so do you think I could go ahead then Bulbaholic?

Well we will be Busybee

That's good to know, but now I can't help feeling guilty going against Spritz's advice! :o)

I quite believe my answer above to be correct, Busybee. You might want to follow the answers to your question for a couple of days to see what different members say. I know that some people don't plant tulips until November but, as I said, we have some that will be going into the ground this w/e.

I will do Bulbaholic, thankyou very much for your response.

Spritz will understand, Busybee. We are gardeners and we sometimes do things differently. And we are both sucessful - most of the time ;-).

:o)

I have no problem with a different approach, Mr MB - maybe I'm just being too cautious!

Please don't feel guilty, Busy! :-))) I'm not upset in the slightest! Honest!

Not too cautious, Spritz, we all do what 'we' think is right. I am surprised that no one else has put up an opinion.

Me too! Books always advise that tulips should be planted later..even into November...I suppose that would be hopeless in Northern areas, though. To be honest, I plant my container ones at the same time as the Narcissi, because, as I think you know, I layer my pot-planting. So it's when I can bear to rip the summer flowers out!

lol Spritz...

Well - down here, they're still going strong in most of my containers, MG!

I forgot I bought some last year and found them in the cupboard under the stairs in January. Some had gone mouldy but hey, nothing ventured.... They came up too!!

My tulip bulbs were put in the ground when I bought them. I went with the packaging saying August to December.

hi i planted all my tulips end of october early nov as id only just moved into the bungalow and as i live in the frozen north and the winter was extreme i was really surprised being new gardener that most of the tulips flowered in the spring after all that never ending snow it was wonderful to see around 90 per cent flower and the lilly flowering ones i can recommend as they flowered for weeks on end really beautiful those ones and stood up well against the snow and strong winds ... alison ...they all staying put snuggled up in the ground im definately not into digging them up for over wintering !. this gardening thing is hard work but worth it