OK I have a total black thumb and every plant I have ever tried to take care of in the past has died (excluding the ugly green thing in the office that flourished). I now have 4 beautiful plants in my home. A pointsetta which is just fine, a rosebush, tulips and hyacynth. The rosebush is overgrown in the pot it is in and I don't know if there is anything special I should do to re pot it. Also, the tulips are too many bulbs crammed into one small pot and i don't know if it is allright to maybe transfer some of the bulbs to another pot. I just got the hyacynth today, so it hasn't overgrown the pot yet. I just don't know if there is anything special I should do. Any non plant killing advice would be greatly welcome.

in my limited, generally idiotic experience, i have learned most plants are fairly durable when it comes to this. relocating plants is a simple process. get some nutrient rich potting soil to help them recover from the transition. dig hole deep enough to contain the pot it is currently in or at least double the size of the pot they are in. lightly clutch the base of the plant between your fingers, turn upside down and transfer the entire soil/root bulk. i've killed my fair share of plants by not transplanting them to bigger homes. now that i have a yard, not problemo.

Thanks Patrick. I am going to attempt this today and hope I don't kill them all. There are like 5 bulbs in my pot of tulips. Do you think it would be OK if I just transferred 2 or 3 bulbs to different pots and then left the others there, giving them more room, or should I just move them all?

sure why not. my tulip bulbs better start doing something. they were planted weeks and weeks ago and nothing yet. i'll 86 their ass soon.

When I was in Missouri my tulips didn't start doing anything until the end of March, beginning of April. Haven't you guys been having unusual weather lately? The info that was included with my new tulips says that they flourish between 60 and 65 degrees. My apartment is a little warm for them, but I have new ones coming up already. They're growing like crazy at 70-75 but the flowers die off quicker. Just a thought. Maybe it has something to do with the weather.

they were planted in late december, which is when they are supposed to be planted according the package. they were planted in a cement planter that is just outside our front door. however, im a little worried they dont get the drainage they need. the planter is built into the concrete, it has a decorative spigot like it used to be some sort or shallow, lame gold fish pond. the landlord threw some fresh potting soil in it as a nice gesture. everything ive planted in my limited experience responded sooner, but maybe this is just the way its supposed to be. it has been unusually warm ,but this week and last its back to where it should be. highs in the mid 60s, lows in the upper 40s.

Patrick, how cold has it been for you this season? Sometimes you have to "force" tulip bulbs -- i.e, put them in the refrigerator or other pretty cold place for a few weeks, so they think it's winter. I'm serious....here are some links: http://www.garden.org/howtos/scripts/howtos.taf?id=1326 http://www.pallensmith.com/features/highlights98/hd2005d.html I've done this myself before (as a science project, actually) and it works.

I got a catcus from a newspaper last year, and you should see it now - its got babies popping out all over the place, and its bright green. cacti rock

well, this week and last week, as i said, its been colder than it has. more normal. its chilly over night, but when i planted them, the weather was a little warmer than usual. succulents in general rock, because it takes nothing to grow them. just snip a piece off someone else's plant and throw it in the ground.

It's true! My grandfather's old house was shaded by a huge palm tree that grew as a result of my aunt sticking a palm leaf in the (poor, dry, Las Vegas) soil when she was a little girl.

I'm a big fan of succelents. Spider's right about forcing tulips. And Eri, seperate those bulbs after they're done blooming--it's perfectly safe to do and it means you'll have more tulips next year. Hurrah for more tulips.

I had to separate them today. The blooms have all died off and there is green growth but no buds or blooms or anything like that. I discovered that they crammed 7 bulbs into a 4" pot and they barely fit it. I will probably have to separate them again later on. The roots were all horribly tangled up. Same thing with the hibiscus, the roots were so crammed in that they were coming out of the top of the soil with nowhere else to go, so I separated them all as much as I could (I ran out of pots). The roses look much better in the larger pot (6" instead of 4" and much deeper), so I hope they will be allright and start to grow healthy again. Now they are all in proper sized pots for the most part and are no longer major root bound. How often should I give them plant food? I don't want to overwater or overfeed them, but I don't want to not do it often enough and kill them either. I suck with plants.

Did you put down a tablespoon of bone meal under each bulb when you planted them?

uhhhhhh no. aint not talk bout bone meal in the intructions.

We planted tulips and jonquils and all sorts of stuff in November. We sprayed fox urine around them to keep the squirrels away, but it ended up really intriguing the puppy.

you can buy fox urine? that just sounds so.........i dunno.....cool. maybe that would keep the skunks outta my yard.

Yeah, it's actually meant to keep squirrels away from the bulbs, but it would probably work on skunks too.

I'm pretty sure your suppos to mix bonemeal with the soil when you plant bulbs,just do a search,bonemeal+bulbs

where's nate? this thread has pot in the name, and I don't see nate anywhere?

LOL

my tulips died off wat would be the proper procedurs for next time people told us leave in the fridge for 6 weeks and they should start again.. wat do u recommend us doing....

study.

wat dave.? wat should she study? exsaktly wat wood be gud for her to studee?

English Comp. Don't ask me how to grow anything. I have a black thumb towards all plant life.

back to the basics. kindergarten.

don't know wat to doo about 2lips butt I whater mi azalea whith urine!

can someone please advise me how to stop my outside flower tubs from becoming totally waterlogged? As i live in "BONNIE SCOTLAND" where the rain is never too far away, my poor flowers are going to need swimming lessons if they have any chance of survival!!!! I'm new to all this gardening caper, so please don't be too technical. CHEERS FOLKS TTFN