| Happy New Year, Sandy! Having a garage probably gives you another couple of zones' worth in gardening terms - unless you get more than, say, 7 degrees of frost in there, and it lasts for days. If it does then you could use insulation, safe heating, and row covers to prevent the mix and pots from freezing. An old chilly-bin/eskie - whatever it is you call those bins for keeping drinks cool at the beach - could be useful for a few pots. The main problem is more like providing enough warmth to get the root systems going. In my version of zone 9 daffodils will start into root growth a few weeks from now (though I'm not so sure about this year...:-((( ). The bulbs that have been lifted and dried will wait until planted but the in-ground ones will have a head start. Early tulips can often be planted right into early winter and make enough growth to flower in 6-8 weeks in a warm zone, though the main tall ones are usually much slower off the mark. Hyacinths can be staggered for planting but I think their breeding has more effect on when they flower than when they were planted. (Seems that way in my garden, anyway.) When you plant bulbs 'at the proper time' there's a lot of warmth still left in the soil. Then there could be autumn rain, or a friendly gardener with a hose pipe, and they put out their roots. In zones like mine, where the frosts are mild and snow is a "Wow! Gosh! Lookit that!!!" occurence, the bulbs keep growing all the winter. They don't go into 'wait for spring' mode. My temperatures range from 27F up to 60F - apart from a few freaky hot days - and it rains very frequently. And your garage will be similar - apart from the rain! I'd experiment, I think. I'd use a fairly gritty and free-draining mix - maybe even like a cactus mix. I'd plant into fairly shallow pots or bowls - like an azalea bowl - and I'd barely cover the bulbs with just-damp mix. Then I'd actually keep them in for the day, in the warm - like autumn weather. And put them out at night, into the garage - if it's not too much hassle. (I hope you haven't got lots of bulbs...) I wouldn't water them again until I knew there were roots emerging. I'd find that out by gently moving the mix away and being nosey! Normally you wouldn't plant any of these bulbs in such shallow containers. However, you don't want lots of cold damp mix snuggling up to bulbs that haven't got the roots to cope with the water. Some of them will rot - particularly if they were a bit soft to start with. Take them out, if you notice them, though they might not be obvious until the leaves start to push through. Once the roots are growing then the bulbs can go out to the garage full time. Keep a careful eye on the watering. Even in shallow containers it can stay quite damp if the temperature around isn't very high - and there will be no wind to help whisk it away. When the leaves are up you'll need to put them into good light so they don't go straggly, and keep turning them. It's worth a try for a few late-late to plant bulbs. Later on this year you could come back for the tips for container- growing bulbs for your actual zone, from the friendly experts here who know about long-lasting frost and snow first hand! ;-) | 
