Lost and found
Jane McGary (Tue, 11 Nov 2003 15:05:47 PST)

It's 10 pm -- do you know where all your bulbs are?

I just had one of those experiences suffered, probably, by everybody who
grows a lot of bulbs: I found a bucket of bulbs I had set aside to plant
and forgotten. These were cast-offs from my repotting operation in
midsummer and had been sitting under my potting table, outdoors, in an
uncovered plastic bucket, through temperatures ranging from 90 to 25 F,
with no moisture except fog and splashes of rain, for over 3 months. I
wouldn't have noticed them except that Crocus nudiflorus reached out with
its huge purple flowers and caught my eye.

To my surprise, the heap of crocuses, frits, narcissi, and others had
formed a mass of roots in the bottom of the bucket and most of them seemed
to be in a condition at least as good as what I've seen in commercial bulbs
on sale in some garden centers. I disentangled them carefully and planted
them here and there in the rock garden, for whatever they still have in
them after this dreadful experience. I suppose it was being so crowded that
saved most of them from freezing during our recent cold snap.

So look under your potting bench before it gets any later!

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon