Q. We love having early spring bulbs but they don’t always stay where we plant them. I suppose it’s squirrels that dig them up and re-bury them. My question is, when we find bulbs that have been moved they are blooming. When can we dig them up and move them back to where they should be? If we wait until late fall, the usual planting time for spring bulbs, we’ll forget where they were and where they should go. It’s a puzzle! Katie Padwick – Gig Harbor, WA
A. It is a good thing that squirrels forget where they store their caches! We owe to that fact the spread of oak trees and your spring bulbs. The best time to transplant spring flowering (fall planted) bulbs is between the time the foliage completely yellows and withers and typical fall planting time. This is the period when bulb growers also harvest the bulbs. This allows time for cleaning, processing and transportation to the consumer. Although we are lucky enough to be close to a large bulb-growing region like Skagit Valley (see http://www.tulips.com/ for more info) the vast majority of tulips sold in the US are imported from Holland (see http://www.bulb.com/ for more info on bulbs from Holland). This can be done because when the foliage completely yellows and withers the bulb has extracted all the energy it can from the foliage. This is similar to what deciduous trees (and to a limited exten evergreens) do in the fall when the leaves “change”. This early stage is probably best for you unless you are industrious enough to mark the location of the errant bulbs for later transplanting.