Wally world did me in also, I only bought two kinds of bulbs (luckily) neither of them came up.

never again.

:)

I got mine from Home Depot but only the caladuims came up. Had coupons for some free if I bought so much. Ended up very expensive for what I ended up with. I am a slow learner. I stopped to look at the fall bulbs again over the weekend!

Mardens got me good last year. I bought 700 bulbs total,(tulips, daffs) they were sold in 100 bulb bags. Maybe 200 came up. Scared me off of buying bulbs this year. I have been looking but really doing more thinking and passing them by. I know there was not a herd of squirrels digging them up and I know I planted at the correct depth. The only thing I can even remotely think happened is the amount of snowfall we had last winter..14 feet here...I wondered if they could have rotted or did I just get a ton of defective bulbs?? maybe they had been kept in cold storage too long and then left in heat before being shipped to the store???? I just don't know.

I have never had good experiences with boxed/packaged bulbs or plants. Promise myself every year not to waste the money on them. But, when spring is near, one or two always ends up at the check out.

This year I bought some grape plants. Brought them home and planted in pots with some good soil, set them in a warm window. They grew beautifully after planting outdoors. I don't know if giving them a careful start helped or was lucky on these.

Price wise I don't think we get much of a savings either. By the time potted plants are available they are about the same price and have a good start. Bulbs are a different animal, not sure how to actually identify the good from the bad.

Just a suggestion about the 1 yr guarantee on plants. If you buy too early in the spring, they have usually been forced to grow/bloom before their normal time or are brought in from another environment. By the time you find out they didn't pull through the year is up and can't return. I did this with two expensive trees and was out of luck.

Mscratch....Think you are right about the environment and handling. We don't know what they went through during shipping, how long they have been hanging around and any care given. A few years back my son hand carried some bulbs from Holland and all of them grew, no losses...except for the voles that ate half while blooming.

Gamekeeper, your experience is a good recommendation for resouces. The company sounds like a worthy buy.

By the way, I'm new posting on this forum, but hang around a lot. Tis' a first posting. In Colorado.

HOLY COW! I seriously am SO grateful to have read all of the posts on this thread! I was just about to go buy a bunch of bulbs. Anyone have better luck with traded bulbs from the plant exchange members here at GW or is this just a problem with all bulbs?

Blessings,
Angela

I buy bulbs at big-box stores on clearance only--and I've had VERY good luck. I'll pay $1, $1.50 for a bag marked $6 or $8, and I'll plant them at the very, very end of the season when it's "the wrong time" and still have >80% come up. I'm really happy with the performance for the price! But I never buy them at regular price...