If the previous owners planted the shrubs such a short time ago, and if the azaleas were pot-grown, then it is likely that the roots have barely begun to colonise the surrounding ground. Pick a cool and somewhat damp day to lift the azaleas and place them in a shady place, sheltered from wind, with wet sacking over their roots while you dig up the bulbs. You might want to rearrange the azaleas to get a more pleasing combination of colours so you could tag the plants before lifting them. When they go back in the ground, remember to water well and mulch them for the coming summer months. They need to be firmed in, too, but not heavily. No Big Boots, please! The other shrubs might not be so obliging if they have regular roots instead of fibrous root balls but it is worth checking. If the plants were pot-bound when they came from the plant store then it can take years (to never) for them to break out of that pot shape and start to really grow in your garden.

Your bulbs will likely bloom right on schedule, give or take a little. It's not impossible for them to be damaged by this weather, but it would be extremely unusual. Daffodils, in particular, are very tough. In my opinion, you should uncover them and leave them alone. The fact is, there are very very many kinds of narcissus, and they bloom at different times. In my garden, they come up in pretty close to the order in which they bloom. So, my early ones are about six inches high, but my late ones have not all emerged yet. Last year, I had some type of narcissus blooming continually from the first week of February until almost May. I have two kinds of paperwhites blooming right now: Grand Soleil D'Or and Grand Primo (both are only hardy to zone 8).These paperwhites are new this year and I am so excited at how much they are going to extend the season.

I have reservations on a number of fronts about keeping bulbs outside, but not in the ground. Let's first examine what happens to a bulb once it goes into the ground. First it makes roots....it has to have roots to survive the cold. No roots, no bulb. Then, in the ground, we water it to encourage development. Once it has roots, nothing short of a North Pole winter could do them in.....and even then. In a pot, watered, it would surely have to promote its roots before the pot freezes solid...and any water in there would expand and undoubtedly break the pot. Hence, it can be started out of doors, then taken into a sheltered location....an unheat garage or shed, where it is given water minimally. It is not allowed to be subjected to below freezing temperatures. Otherwise, a bulb, not planted in the ground, has to go into an environment where the temperautre is between 35 and 50 F.... Bulbs can be kept in such environment for many months. But since it is a spring flowering bulb, what then? The best place to put such a bulb is in the ground. Rin....if your storage bin is not heated, and you can ensure the bulb doesn't freeze, it could very well be stored there. But what for? They're spring flowering bulbs and have to develop roots before they can be expected to produce foliage and flowers. If YOU cant put them into the ground, why not ask one of your neighbors...one of your HOUSE neighbors to put them into the ground for you and then, next spring, when they come up, you have permission then to dig them up and put them into pots. Mind you, that would have to be done ever so carefully. Riff, why not plan on planting them yourself into the ground. Let's suppose your window box is 6" deep. Tulips are regularly planted at the 8" level. How can you expect an 8" depth bulb to be transplanted to a window box that is only 6" deep. Leave them in the ground and plan on something else for your window box. Now there are mini tulips, I've never planted one, so I suppose you could buy such and maybe plant them in your window box. I suggest you ask your local nurseryman if they have such bulbs. There are any number of smallish bulbs that might be used instead of tulips. But they would still have to be planted in the ground in order to develop their roots. And all this at the expense of not even considering "forcing". Forcing bulbs, especially if you've got too many, is a way to have blooms over Christmas and if done .....say every two weeks, you could have bloom right on thru April. But, you'd need that refrigerator to cool them for up to 17 weeks.

Snowdrops are just the sweetest sights for February - March, aren't they? Nice picture, arrick. Mine are bloomimg too. Have been popping up one by one since Feb. 10. I seem to get more this year, though nowhere near several hundreds that I originally planted. Spotted Eranthis this morning. I planted some Allium 'Globemaster' in 5 gallon pots and surrounded them with bags of leaves. Pulled the top bags out this afternoon and what did I find? 3 Alliums have sprouted. One was over 6" tall!