Our gardens in Yonkers, N.Y., provided the site for nearly 6,500 flower bulbs. Other bulbs were tested at various sites around the country. Autumn is when bins in home and garden centers are piled high with bags of bulbs. As early as spring, catalogs tempt optimistic gardeners with picture-perfect displays of the flowers that will bloom. You can also shop for bulbs on the web or pick them one by one from bins at local nurseries.
Bulb quality can vary considerably from one variety to another, however.
A producer might have a particularly good crop of Ice Follies daffodils, for example, and a poor crop of Red Emperor tulips. What we picked, where we tested We planted nearly 6,500 bulbs in the gardens at our National Testing and Research Center in Yonkers, N.Y., for this report. Included were two varieties each of tulips, daffodils, and crocuses from each source. In most cases, we wound up with four dozen bulbs of each variety from 22 suppliers comprising 15 catalogs and 7 retailers. Five groups of master gardeners, who have specialized horticultural training and perform volunteer outreach work, helped with our testing.