Have you ever purchased a bag of tulips [1] or daffodils and set them aside, only to discover it is too late to get them planted in the ground. Or perhaps there is a great sale at your local garden center after Thanksgiving and they have tulips at a fantastic price. Is it too late to plant? All may not be lost. Here is a temporary planting method that will rescue the bulbs from being a total loss.

Using deep, six-inch pots and a good loose potting soil, plant the bulbs about two inches deep with an inch of space between each bulb. Water them well, and label. Taking advantage of the warmth created in a compost pile, you will more than likely find that only the top surface of the pile has frozen. Dig down into the pile a good 12 to 18 inches and place the pots of bulbs [2]. Cover the pots up and leave them sit in the compost pile until spring. In early spring, remove the pots and plant the clumps of bulbs in the garden. One word of caution - be sure that your compost pile has become relatively inactive and is not producing heat - HOT compost would be a disaster to these living bulbs.