Most bulbs used for forcing indoors need to be pre-chilled. Daffodils need 16 weeks of chilling, tulips need 14 to 20 weeks and hyacinths need 12 weeks. You can chill the bulbs in your refrigerator. Place them in a paper or mesh bag (not plastic) and put them in the crisper drawer.

DON’T haul those leaves to the landfill! Shred them with the lawn mower or a shredder and use them as mulch in perennial and bulb beds or add them to your compost pile.

“Flagstone” comes from any type of horizontally layered rock that can be split into flat slabs or “flags.” Artificial flagstone is made with concrete dyed the color of natural stone and cast into slabs. The flags should be 1” to 2” thick for paving. A small path for one person can be 18” wide but a path for two people to walk side-by-side should be 4’ to 5’ wide.

Dig the bulbs and tubers of calla lilies, cannas, dahlias, gladiolas and tuberous begonias after their foliage is killed by frost. These plants are not winter hardy in Colorado. Dry and pack the bulbs in damp vermiculite or sterile potting soil. The challenge is to keep the bulbs from drying out but not so moist that they mold.

The authors have received training through Colorado State University Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program and is a Master Gardener volunteer for Larimer County.

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This page updated:  November 1, 2006