A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 How long are bulbs good?

Someone just gave me a few packages of grape hyacinth, squille, anemones, alpines, and windflowers. He has no idea how long these bulbs have been sitting because they were left behind when he purchased the house. It's now July, but I was wondering if I should plant them just to see if these bulbs have any life left in them, as next year they may be too dried out. They already look dried out. What do you all think, as I am not accustomed to dealing with bulb flowers? How do you know if the bulb is still good?

I have stored bulb for up to 1 year.then planted them in late fall and have them come up and bloom the follwing spring.you can peal back some of the dry brown skin on your bulb to see if there still good you should see a lighter colored skin deeper inside under the brown skin if your bulbs are still good.i would go ahead and plant them just to see you might soke them in water 24 hours befor planting them due to the heat of summer just to moisten them up.then water them in good.hope this helps and good luck with your bulbs.your friend in gardening.mike57

Mike, thanks for the reply. I did as you said so they are all soaking right now. A few I had to throw out because they crumbled to nothing. Only a few of the others are firm enough, so I don't know how many I'll be left with in the end. Thanks for the advice.