Q: For thirty years I have planted yellow jonquil bulbs in the open spaces among trees and other ornamentals in my back yard. I’ve recently had to relocate some of the plants. In doing so, I’ve sliced up many jonquils. Even so, I’ve recovered a nice sack of healthy bulbs. Rather than plant them and damage more jonquils, can I leave the bulbs outside in a plastic bag and then plant them in the spring when leaves appear on those already in the ground?

A: You have a great common sense idea but I want to take you a little further. Why not plant the bulbs in good soil in individual cardboard cups from which the bottoms have been removed? You could put a bunch of the cups side by side in a plastic nursery flat and put it on the ground outdoors. In this way the bulbs would get natural cold conditioning AND they’d grow good roots, which would be better for them when planted in the empty spots next spring.