How To Choose Spring Bulbs for Your Garden

After the cold of winter when the garden is more sparse with flowers and trees in leaf, spring bulbs offer you a chance to welcome the new year with a flush of flowers. The majority of favorite spring flowers are bulbs, and can be planted in autumn to overwinter, and to burst fourth in spring as the earth warms up slightly.

1. Choosing the Perfect Spring Bulbs. In September, nurseries and plant sellers begin to stock the spring flowering bulbs for cusomters to buy. They have seductive pictures on the packets with sawdust in the packaging hiding the bulbs. I am thinking of daffodils, tulips, crocuses, iris, hyacinths, fritillaria, bluebells, and snowdrops. The best thing about bulbs is if they are left after flowering, they will naturalize and will grow even more bulbs, which you can lift in a few years when they get crowded. A gardener on the radio said he has Dutch tulips that had been flowering every year for 25 years since he moved in!
2. Working out the Colors you Would Like. The colors available for tulips are truly astounding (colors like red, yellow, orange, and even black). You can get parrot-shaped ones, frilly-edged ones, and even tulips that look like roses. I think a two-tone color scheme works well with tulips. Daffodils are beautiful nodding in the wind, with their yellow trumpet flowers. They look good planted en masse, and of all the bulbs, will be the largest. A spring is not a spring without daffodils and the smaller narcissus. Crocuses are also available in masses of colors. They are not as tall as the tulips or daffodils, so they will need to be forward in a planting scheme. Irises come in masses of colors, as the name implies. (In Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow.) Bluebells and snowdrops are blue and white, respectively. They look good planted en masse. ...

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Author: David Hamilton