This is a great idea! I've done it for the past two years and was more than pleased with my spring blooms. I overplanted my bulbs with pansies and it was just beautiful in the spring. When the pansies died back, I dug the bulbs up and placed them in storage until the next year. In your zone you'll have plenty of time after the mums to plant the bulbs. Enjoy!

I tried that and the bulbs all died. I traced it to the fact that the pots went through a few freeze-thaw-freeze cycles which rotted the bulbs. They're better protected in the ground in zone 5 or forced for indoor use. If you find out how to succeed with this, please let me know. Thanks!

I'm going to have to read up on this. What if I were to keep them in pots in my garage? Would that work???
Must investigate. ;) If they bloom they will be beautiful!

I left mine out all winter and the bulbs completely rotted. I think that a cool/cold location protected from the elements is the ticket!

I've potted up bulbs in containers and overwintered them in the garage. I usually have good luck with this, although I have had a few pots with either no growth or with growth but no blooms.

I plant them up and leave them out till it gets cold - this way they get the benefits of the rain and sun, etc., and they get a chance to get established. Then I bring them into the garage and water once or maybe twice during the winter. Then I bring them out in spring and hope they bloom!

If you're worried about the results, just try a pot or two. I bet you'll wish next spring you had done more!

:)
Dee

Here in zone 6 almost 7, I've had lily bulbs survive the winter well in pots 3 gallon or larger, but had problems with freeze-thaw die-off in smaller pots. To improve survival in smaller pots, you can group them together and cover with Reemay and a top layer of heavy opaque plastic once the wetaher has really cooled off.

From what I heard on 'Gardening by the Yard' (an HGTV gardening show) plants in pots should be considered to be growing in 2 zones colder than the actual zone due to the lack of ground/snow insulation. If you have bulbs hardy to zone 4 and you are in zone 5, putting those bulbs in a pot would be like overwintering them in zone 3. Won't work most of the time.

Suggestions for increasing success rate in colder zones (from the show) include wrapping pots in bubble wrap for insulation, moving pots next to the south side of the home for sunlight and radiant heat, burying pots in the ground for ground insulation or covering them with clear plastic for heat trapping. Of all these suggestions the plastic over the pots seems the most risky on those warm, sunny winter days where temps can get quite high under clear plastic.

what about wintering them in a pot in a heated garage, I usually keep mine around 50-ish.

Bulbs that need a chill period will bloom most vigorously if stored at temperatures between freezing & 45* F. It's possible that the temperature on the floor would be cool enough to supply adequate chilling, but I think you are sort of borderline.

I plant many containers of bulbs each year for early spring displays. I plant the bulbs anytime after Oct 1, use a fast soil, and keep the containers on the floor of my unheated garage where I occasionally throw a shovel of light snow on them to prevent them from drying completely.

The air temperature in the garage varies from the extreme low of around 0* when the door is open on very cold days to around 50* on warm days, but the fairly steady temperature of the floor moderates temperature extremes and prevents the bulbs from getting so cold that water inside plant cells freezes & rots the bulbs or so warm that proper stratification doesn't occur.

When I'm sure night temperatures will no longer drop below 25* F., I put the containers outdoors & allow nature to take its course. I've never found reason to be dissatisfied with the results of using this easy method.

Al

I had very good luck with daydream tulips last year. Best tulips so far. Daffodils usually do well. I'm going to try alliums this year. And, probably some more daydreams, they were soooooooo pretty!

I think that if I keep them under my air vent (read 8 inch hole) into my garage, that should balance out the -20 to +20 outside and the +50 inside.
Only time will tell!

Thanks Al, your always so insightful!

-Kim