Mistake I did with bulbs...plz advise (iris, spring, northern)

[Rakhi]

All, I live in a place where the winter temperature dips to about -35 D C and below. Last year is pretty much the first year I started my garden (was living in another country before). When I bought Dahlias and Calla Lilies, the plant care said that I should treat them like an annual. Meaning, I need to dig them out before the last frost, label and store them and sow back the bulb in spring. In fall, I met with an accident and could not really care much for the bulbs. Now its spring....

I do not see any sprout in either the calla lilies or dahlias. Did I effectively kill them? I did not do the spring cleaning yet. I was thinking I will do this weekend. Shall I discard and throw the bulbs in the ground now or shall I wait longer to test my luck? Please advise me.

[gentlearts]

I had some calla lillies come back for a few years in zone 5, but in your climate I'm pretty sure they're both toast.

[Rakhi]

Oh no !!!! Damn...OK, i will rip out the bulbs and throw them away next weekend.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Rakhi

Oh no !!!! Damn...OK, i will rip out the bulbs and throw them away next weekend.

The larger variety bulbs tend to be not very hardy to northern climates.

Hardy bulbs

I have had some success with the Giant Alliums but they tend to peter-out over a few years.

The Crown Imperials are hardy to about -29 C and while my luck with them in zone 3/4 hasn't been good you might try these...



Also consider Iris, they can get quite large, are long blooming, require little maintenance and virtually bomb proof...

[Briolat21]

With Iris you will have to watch out for Iris Borers though. In MI my IRIS all got attacked. It was icky. In OH I haven't seen them yet, but am staying vigilant.

Dahlias are more of a "tuber" than a bulb - and not freeze hardy (too much soft tissue to be destroyed). Tulips, daffodils, crocus, dutch iris, hyacinths -- those are all okay.

And large iris (the big bearded/siberian ones) are fine for whatever reason - they can take very cold.

Gladiola - even though they are a "hard" bulb to the touch -- they don't seem to be able to tolerate lasting freezes. They turn to mush.

I left my dahlia in the ground last year as well - I knew it would kill them, but the weather turned bad much more quickly than I was expecting - and I just couldn't get them out. Oh well.. I can always get more...