Plant bulbs now?

[mkr5000]

In the midwest, haven't had a freeze yet, a ton of rain lately and expecting low

30's in the next 7 days.

Can I still plant bulbs?

Hope so, I already ordered them.

Thanks.

[John McGaw]

low 30's in the next 7 days.

Yes, before the freeze is easiest although I've planted in Alaska when I had to break an inch of frozen soil to do it and still had success. If the ground is deeply saturated from the rain then some bulbs that demand perfect drainage might have serious problems.

As for ordering bulbs, I put mine on order in late July or early August when the distributors in the Netherlands put out their list for the season. It is far cheaper to buy them in the smallest lots available from commercial gardener's suppliers than though regular catalogs -- about 1/3 the price. When I am forced to buy 100 or more to get a price break and can't plant them all I find a neighbor willing to accept a gift of free bulbs -- it makes the neighborhood look better and I still save money in the long run.

[Brooklyn1]

low 30's in the next 7 days.

Here in NY I plant bulbs up until the first hard frost, but long before that the large plant sellers like Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, and others will have end of season clearance sales where they knock off 75% on bulbs... last year I bought over 300 daffs at Lowe's for under $30.

[John McGaw]

low 30's in the next 7 days.

Yeah. I've had luck a few times at closeouts but the predictability is bad and finding any particular cultivar is impossible. I usually buy mine from Van Engelen and species daffodils can cost as little as ~$65 for 250 Ice Follies up to several times that for exotics. Their bulbs are also larger and of a higher grade that anything I've seen at the borg. This company is one of the few that seems to sell English Bluebells which is the reason I first ordered from them. Everybody sells Spanish but I didn't _want_ Spanish, I wanted English.