Tulips in August?

[warrenp888]

I am getting married on August 5, 2006 and am wondering if any of the following schemes would allow me to grow tulips that flower in August (in Northern VT, zone 4).

1) Buy bulbs now, store them in a refrigerator until about April/May, at which point I would force them - refrigerating them in soil for 12-15 weeks and then growing them outside in flats for 3-4 weeks.

1a) Or, if the forcing is a reliable way to do this, would it be possible to get fresh tulip bulbs in the spring (thus avoiding the storage problem), or are they only available in the fall?

2) Buy them and begin the forcing process now, but leave them refrigerated (or frozen once they root) until early July, then defrost them in a cool cellar and plant them outside for 3-4 weeks.

3) This is actually a related but different question: if I wanted to plant other bulbs that don't require freezing but bloom before August (like some lilies), would planting them about 4 weeks late work to delay their blooming time for the first year? Or would they just not bloom that year?

Thanks for any suggestions!

-Warren

 

[amid chaos]

I would not try to do it myself, especially for my wedding. But contact a reputable flourist (may need to keep asking around). Sometimes their distributors can do some custom work like this, as long as they have enough time. I'm sure they could reproduce the perfect environment better than we could.

Good luck and congratulations.