Thats cold enough. I always plant mine in the first week of December so they bloom before my roses. I start chilling the first week of September. Al

Thanks for the reassurance Al. I always wait till Van Engelen have their huge sale to buy bulbs, which they were late this year due to the halloween snowfall back east. I like to have mine bloom around March, when it is actually spring since I wish we had more of different seasons in California. Thanks!

Brian

40 is perfectly fine -- really anything between 32 and 45 works.

It's a myth that inadequate chilling prevents bulbs from blooming -- it doesn't, because the flower is already fully formed down in the heart of the bulb by the time its dug from the field in Holland. What chilling affects is stem length and size -- a bulb that isn't properly chilled will have extremely short stems and possibly smaller flowers.

^That idea is interesting, because once I forced tulips in the kitchen in several pots and the flowers were dwarfed; they were supposed to be about 16 inches tall and were coming out about 6 inches tall, not only short but also with miniature penny-sized flowers. I put one of the pots outside during a chilly March week and within days in the cold, the flowers, stems and leaves enlarged to a typical tulip size. The ones that stayed in the house remained miniature.

I know I can put the bulbs in the refrigerator but there is always the addendum: don't put them by fruit. Does that mean in another drawer of same refrigerator or not any fruit in the refrigerator? also, do Alliums (ornamental) need chilling?

Almost all refrigerators today are self defrosting and have a fan to circulate the air throughout. Gas from ripening fruit is everywhere in the refrigerator. Alliums do not require chilling. Al

Thanks for this post - I live in an apt in zone 4b and only have a small balcony. This is exactly the question I was going to ask!