1. Every Home Has Space For Bulbs
Fall’s crisp weather is a reminder that it is time to plant spring-flowering bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, etc. (Sec chart below for the various kinds that are now available.)
No matter how small or extensive your home grounds are, they will be brightened in the spring by the planting of these bulbs now. A few suggestions for areas to plant bulbs are shown.
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A white birch, dogwood, oak, or any high-branching tree makes a background for daffodils. For a bright touch of blue, interplant daffodils with grape hyacinths.
Water-lily (Kaufinanniana) hybrid tulips with mottled or striped foliage, in groups of a do/.cn or so, can be placed around a birdbath or other garden feature.
For fragrance near a garden bench, doorway, or wherever you pause or pass during the day, plant a few clumps of hyacinths, or, space permitting, plant in drifts.
Make the most of existing rocks or boulders (or where possible, move some into the garden area) by planting several clumps of crocuses around or against them.
Evergreens, both needle types such as yew or juniper, and broad-leaves such as rhododendron or a/alea, make a setting for tulips. One caution: Watch for color conflicts!
2. It’s Easy To Plant Bulbs
Easy is the word for the actual planting of spring-flowering bulbs. Except that they must be planted in the fall, their requirements are few.
Plant them in full sun or light shade, in well-drained soil, at the depths in the right chart.
Bulbs can be fertilized with a special bulb fertilizer, which is mixed with soil at the time of planting, according to directions on the package.
3. Remember The Little Bulbs
Among the “little” spring-blooming bulbs are many worthwhile members that make spring come earlier and add to later effects created by daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. The beginner should be sure to buy these miniature bulbs in large quantities.
Just a dozen or so bulbs will rarely make any sort of display, but anywhere from 25 to 50 or 100 will cover the ground with color. Fortunately, they are reasonably priced and, once planted, can be left alone.
Winter-Aconite
Winter-aconite (Granthis) has buttercup-like flowers a few weeks before the earliest crocuses. It should be planted in early fall and is most effective in groups of 25 or more.
Snowdrops
Snowdrops (Galanthus) and Snowflake (Leucojum) are both early blooming and similar in appearance. Their white flowers, tipped with green, are quaint rather than showy. Nevertheless, they herald the end of winter.
Crocus
Crocuses, foolproof, cheering, and colorful, truly mark the arrival of spring. There are many named species and varieties available, but it is also possible to buy crocuses according to color, including mauve, yellow, purple, white, blue, and orange.
Crocuses can be planted on a lawn, under and around trees and shrubs, and on slopes and banks.
Glory-of-the-snow
Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa) has delicate, starry flowers in shades of blue, rose, and pure white.
Plant in colonies the same way as crocuses. Still, also called squill, has bells of flowers in pink, rose, white, and blue. Again, massing creates the best effects.
Grape-Hyacinths
Grape-hyacinths (Muscari) have dwarf spikes of blue or white flowers that resemble little hyacinths or bunches of grapes. They are superb with daffodils.
4. Spring Color From Bulbs
Color is the key to selecting spring bulbs. Yellow appears first in very early spring with winter-aconite and crocus, but this color parade’s intensity and variation gain momentum over 3 months until tulips end the show.
Tulips offer glorious shades of red, rose, pink, salmon, yellow, pure white, and purple. Daffodils are limited to yellow and white but have accents of orange and red.
Although hyacinths have red, rose, and pink varieties, their blue and lavender varieties can be rewarding.
A fine hyacinth is the lovely pale yellow City of Haarlem. For carpeting, nothing can surpass grape hyacinth (muscari).
5. Other Spring Companions
OTHER SPRING-BLOOMING PLANTS make dramatic companions for spring bulbs. When buying tulips, consider these trees, shrubs, and perennials.
Trees
- Dogwood
- Crab apple
- Cherry
- Redbud
- Magnolia
- Apple
- Hawthorn
- Laburnum
Shrubs
- Forsythia
- Azalea
- Rhododendron
- Flowering quince
- Viburnum
- Daphne
- Lilac
- Flowering almond
- Father Hugo’s rose
- Spirea
- Shadbush
- Juneberry
Perennials
- Moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
- Blue phlox (Phlox divaricata)
- Bleeding-heart
- Primrose
- Alyssum
- Candytuft
- Pansy
- Viola
- English daisy
- Early columbine
- Leopards-bane (doronicum)
- Wall-cress (Arabis)
- Forget-me-not
- Virginia bluebells (Mertensia)
- Pulmonaria
6. Choose Bulbs By Their Name
The variety of names among spring-flowering bulbs is legion. Many hobby gardeners specialize in daffodils and tulips (there are societies devoted to each of these bulbs), and it is possible to spend $42 for one new daffodil variety in short supply. However, fortunately, most varieties run around $3 a dozen.
Among daffodil varieties, reasonable in price, that will be available this fall are Queen of Bicolor, Early Splendor, Mount Hood, Beersheba, Duke of Windsor, William the Silent, and Unsurpassable.
Among tulip varieties to look for are:
- Palestrina
- Mrs. John T. Scheepers
- Kansas
- Aristocrat
- Artist
- Gudoshnik
- Dover
- Abraham Lincoln
- Aladdin
- Van Dyck
- Orange Triumph
A popular crocus variety is Peter Pan, which is pure white. Among hyacinths are Amethyst and the ever-popular pale yellow City of Haarlem.
Catalogs of bulb specialists give descriptions of these and many other bulb varieties.
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