It is not at all uncommon for gardeners to get tulips or narcissus bulbs for Christmas gifts. This presents a problem which some gardeners do not know how to solve because the ground is frozen and there is little or no opportunity to plant these bulbs at this time of year in the North.

There have been some reports that narcissus bulbs have been kept successfully in open paper bags in a cool, dark place over winter and planted just as soon as it is possible to get them into the ground in very early spring. These bulbs bloomed in a normal manner at the usual time later on in spring. This practice however, is not a safe one because there always is a great possibility that the bulbs will dry out and deteriorate so much while in storage that they would make very poor plants and fail to bloom after being planted.

A safer procedure would be to pot these bulbs just as soon as possible and store them in a cold, dark place where the temperature will remain close to freezing for most of the winter. Storage for a few weeks at a higher temperature (45-55 degrees) to allow rooting without top growth should precede storage at the lower temperature mentioned.

These potted bulbs can be forced into growth for flowering in the house in late winter or kept in cold storage and planted in the garden as soon as it is possible to do so. Transplanting must be done without disturbing the roots; the pot must be removed very carefully.

A question frequently raised is whether or not outdoor Christmas lights are detrimental to plants. Neither the light nor the heat from the lamps is harmful in any way, so don’t hesitate to decorate an evergreen or any other plant that is suitable for the purpose. Outdoor Christmas decoration of trees has become so widely practiced that home landscape planners now take this into consideration when developing planting plans, especially for those whose interest in this direction runs high.