On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:54:12 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/3/11 2:39 PM, Chris Nelson wrote:
I got some glad bulbs. The directions say I can plant them here in
New York (near Albany) from April to June. I'd like to time them to
be in bloom for a summer party but I need to know roughly how long
from planting to bloom. I've looked around the web some but didn't
find any specific timing. Any advice?

Glads generally bloom in the late spring or in the summer. You can't
really control the bloom schedule by when you plant them. Their
schedule is determined primarily by the weather and the amount of
sunlight.

All true even after bulbs have been in the ground for years... they'll
flower on their own schedual dependant on many environmental
factors... the best you can hope for is that they'll bloom within a
range of typically +/- 2 weeks, but could be as much as +/- 30 days,
especially in the Albany, NY region where elevation plays a big role.
But here in the northern Catskills I would have planted those bulbs
last fall so they'd have a little time to establish before the freeze.
Last fall the Glenmart Walmart had a great end of season sale on all
nursery stock, I picked up 300 bulbs, mostly mixed daffs but an
assortment of others too, all for $22 inc tax. Now I'm patiently
waiting to see what appears... I'm not concerned with flowering
timing, I always have several plants flowering/blossoming all growing
season. Anyone planting bulbs really needs one of those 3" augers and
a drill motor... I've tried it with a 3/8" portable but it does far
better with my 1/2" corded, those augers work better at low RPM but
need the extra torque, I was able to reach all my spots with two 100'
extention cords. With that auger I had all 300 bulbs planted in under
two hours... drilling the holes was the easiest/least time consuming
part.... don't even touch dirt, don't even have to bend down. Those
little augers are good for all sorts of planting, I've even used it to
till areas too small to accomodate a tiller. I'm sure it will make
digging fence post holes with a manual post hole digger a lot less
laborious... I have to dig holes for two 8" posts, I will try it as
soon as the ground is fully thawed and it dries a bit... the auger
will be good for loosening the soil in the hole as I pull it out with
the post hole digger... so long as I don't hit any boulders I should
be done in no time. This will pay for itself with planting the first
hundred bulbs:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/p...t=2,2200,33263