Tulip bulbs - plant BEFORE or AFTER the first frost?

[AntiqueBooks]

Hello

I'm seeing conflicting info re this.

After the first frost to minimise Tulip Fire or before the first frost to give them enough time to put roots down before the hard part of winter?

Where do you stand on this debate?!

Thanks

Forgot to say I noticed a bumble bee around my pots the other day. This pleased me greatly!

Crocuses and snowdrops now past their best so have moved them away from the front of the house and back to the "staging and experimentation area" at the back garden

But the ready-potted irises are now out. Wonder if the self-potted ones behind them will come out ok.

And looks like my self-potted daffodils (behind the smaller, ready-potted daffodils) are ready to flower any day now.

Will still be a while before I have tulips, by the looks of it.

My pre-Xmas tulips in pots are sending up leaves/flower stalks now.

My experimental bulbs were planted out the other weekend.
It was obvious to see which ones were sprouting/viable which you don't get with Autumn planting and the soil was lovely to dig for a nice deep hole.

The proof will be in the displays! I'm expecting the Spring planted ones to be much later than the Autumn planted ones - but it extends the season if nothing else.

I should say that my intention is to move all my bulbs back to my "staging and experimentation area" in the back garden once they have died off and just leave them there until next year to see if they can survive for a 2nd year!

In the end I didn't bother with any new tulips for this season. It was so wet I just didn't think it would be worth it. However, several left over from last spring are coming up in some of my pots. Waiting to see what sort of show they produce.

I planted a load of tulips last autumn in beds, very excited to see what they all look like. I have lots of buds but no flowers yet (in the South west). We have thousands of daffodils naturalised in our lawn, it's one of the things that made me buy this house, it's such a cheery display. Tulips and daffs are some of my favourite flowers 🌷

The extreme wetness is making me very concerned.

It was like this the year before last when my bulbs didn’t do well (unlike last year which was spectacular) and even more worrying is that slugs were the plaque that year 😬

I have just had an email to say my nematodes are in the post. I will be using them! I didn't bother last year, and lived to regret it.

It’s going to be war on those slugs!!

I planted pots quite late at the end of last year so mine are just coming up (in Scotland but closer to glasgow than Edinburgh!). I did lasagne potting but not sure what's in each pot. My list of bulbs (gave half to my sister) and my pots

The rest of the pots

My tulip and daffodil pots are looking fantastic. I'm very pleased.

My ready-potted irises are dead now. They looked nice but only lasted a fortnight. So back to the back of the house, to the "staging and experimentation area" they go. Let's see if they come back next year.

The irises I potted myself have plenty of greenery but no signs of colour yet.

The daffodils I potted myself are coming out nicely now. Although I can see I was a bit random in my selection - I picked "extra tall - for cut flowers" ones. I should have bought ones designed for containers! The ready-potted ones still going fairly strong so have lasted well, have only had to deadhead a few.

Tulips progressing slowly. Can see just a tiny glimpse of colour. I reckon by the time they're out, a lot will be out in the garden anyway.

I can see why people "do" bulbs - they're more colourful than anything else. They make my herbs, also out the front of the house, look v drab in comparison!

I can also see why daffodils are the most popular - they come out the almost the earliest and they last much longer than anything else as well as being more impactful than the more delicate stuff. (Eg crocus/iris/snowdrop - all delicate and don't last long)

South East- mine are out! Both pots and in the ground 🥰

@dairydebris beautiful! Was sunny in East Scotland today so hopefully we're not far behind you!

@dairydebris Very pretty!

I love mini daffs. I think these are Minnow.
One pot of tulips has lovely stalks waiting to open whilst others are a little further behind.

These tulips have popped out in the last 24hrs!

Daffodils still coming out.

Not sure if the irises are actually going to do anything! Can't see any colour at all.

No idea how you put photos on here.. we're on clay,nw facing garden, but it's a detached bungalow and garden is 200 ft long,so always sun somewhere.. tried the bulb lasagna, found it horrible. You've got to leave the daffodil leaves for 6 weeks,they look scruffy..all the spring bulbs are in pots, hidden down the bottom till the leaves are showing. I covered the newly planted pots with an upturned metal hanging basket to deter foxes squirrels. We're in the SE UK near the sea,and I've got polyanthus which are wilting in pots and I've had to water. I love Edinburgh, visited about 8 years ago, botanical garden obviously.

Oh tulips were planted in the pots in December years ago,they get a feed of chicken pellets after flowering and a top dress of new compost before growth.

I can see that the bulbs I potted up myself (both daffodil and tulip) have produced much bigger, better quality and longer-lasting flowers. Will post a pic when they are all fully out.

Ready-potted daffs now largely finished.

Still no sign of colour on the iris I potted myself. I wonder if they got too wet over winter.

Tulips I potted myself are in the big pot at the back. Ones bought ready-potted are smaller and at the front.

I like the daffs with the orange centres.