Hi everybody,
I went to nearby Lowes yesterday and saw that they all these summer flowering bulbs and strawbwerry plants etc. I live in Chicago and i was wondering should I buy them now? but it is not planting time yet! What do you guys recommend? Basically I want to form a small partial shade garden and there is a sunny spot in front to fill in. I am also interested in trying to grow tomatoes and strawberries in containers. I found a bag of some 10 bulbs for shade garden there and i don't want to lose them if I shop later!!Any input is appreciated

Bulbs...If you think they will be gone you can buy them now and put them in a cool place. I am guessing you cannot plant tender bulbs until late May.

If they are Oriental Lilies, Asiatic Lilies, Tiger Lilies you can plant them as soon as you get a Spring thaw. They do not mind being cold.

You're futher north than I am but that doesn't make any difference with buying the bulbs, just planting them. I've learned to buy what I want when I find them because I've been disappointed too many times when I go back only to find the things I wanted are gone.

Ivy 9, how much are the Strawberry plants selling for there? You might be interested in taking a look at the current thread about Strawberries in pots and towers . Container Tomatoes are pretty cool too... I've had less bug problems with them in pots, for some reason. (Strawberries in containers are SOOO low maintenance, as they're up where Slugs can't get at them, & you hardly ever have to pull a weed!)

Definitely buy now so you get what you want, and as mentioned store them in a cool place. I've often seen their bulbs go bad from sitting in the store for so long...they get mushy and rot. I've already bought a bunch of Oriental and Asiatic lilies and several different Dahlias...and a few elephant ears too. The Lowe's closest to me even has Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flowers in pots. I bought 3 of them but I'm leaving them in the pots for the next 2 weeks in my greenhouse and will then set them outside for a few days so they can acclimate to the cooler temps.

i've regreted not buys bulbs when they first come out at the store for the same reason. i wait until the "right" time and by then the ones i want are gone or they are starting to mildew and rot. we were actually at lowes today and as my husband and kids were bugging me "I want to go home", "are you almost done" i started daydreaming about all the stuff i could plant! they even had some nice looking wisteria vines! blackberries, raspberries......

Maybe I wasn't too clear about when you can plant the bulbs because they can be actually be put in the ground right now, IF, you can get them in the ground. In this area, I keep mine in the garage until I can dig deep enough to plant them because our ground is still frozen about an inch or two down. We've had some pretty warm days here but at night it is still dropping down below freezing so it hasn't stayed warm long enough to thaw the ground further down.

patches

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies.
We had snow in Chicago last night :rolleyes: I think I will take your advice and buy the bulbs. I will store them in the garage. The thing is, I have to prepare the ground as this is my first time gardening in the shade. Thanks Patty, I will take a look at the thread, I want to plant strawberries in the container, just hesitating to start

Hey Ivy9 Greetings from an X Chi-town south sider.

Patio tomatos are great in Large flower pots and produce tomatos. Yep that 3-4 inches of snow was FUN to drive in. I was in town last weekend visiting my folks.

Hi Greenthumb,
Greetings
I go to University of Chicago. I want to visit China town, may be in summer!