Why plant spring flowering bulbs in the fall?
Spring flowering bulbs offer a special kind of magic in any garden design. They are the first signs of life after winter; green tips peaking through the melting snow as the world wakes up and shakes off the cold. From the famous Dutch tulips to the small crocus, planting bulbs will be the first signs of life in your beautiful garden.
Since these are spring-blooming, it’s tempting to wait to buy and plant them in the spring when they are in flower, but you should buy them now and plant them when the soil temps are around 50 to 55 degrees F. Bulbs need to put down good roots before the ground freezes. If you plant them in the spring, they won’t have enough time to establish or be exposed to the cold temperatures that actually trigger flowering.Ordering and planting them now means they’ll pop up in the spring.
Here are a few tips and tricks to using bulbs in your garden.
How to arrange bulbs
Incorporating bulbs into your garden is fun! Here are five ways you can utilize spring plants in any space. How you plant bulbs will depend on the style of garden you want.
If your garden is small, stick to one color and flower. This will bring a pop of color and draw the eye to a certain section, making it into a show stopper.
For larger spaces, plant a variety of bulb colors and types in sweeping masses to give your garden depth and intrigue.
Scatter smaller bulbs across a large grassy patch or underneath the tree. They’ll land randomly and give the area a flowery meadow look. Mix different bulbs and smaller perennials to give it a variety of colors.
If you want a more uniformed and traditional look, plant your bulbs in rows. This is stunning when lining walkways. It’s important to stagger the rows to ensure there are no bare spots.
Plant your bulbs in clusters around your garden and tucked within a small grouping of perennials or amongst rocks to create a stunning visual display. Plant your bulbs with early blooming perennials to add more variety. Or, plant your early-blooming bulbs with later-blooming perennials to cover bare spots in the spring and hide fading foliage later in the summer.
How to plant bulbs
Now that you’ve got a design in your head, how many bulbs should you plant? The number of bulbs you need depends on the bulb and the area of your garden. To get you started, here is a list of the most common bulbs and recommended quantities of bulbs per square foot.
5 tulips/sq. ft
4 - 5 large daffodils/sq. ft
8 - 12 crocus/sq. ft
14 - 18 muscari/sq. ft
3 - 4 hyacinths/sq. ft
20 - 24 Eranthis/sq. ft
Check the bulb packaging or online charts such as https://www.colorblends.com/bed-area-calculator/ to get an idea for how many you need.
Plant larger bulbs such as tulips or daffodils at 6” and then smaller bulbs like crocus and grape hyacinth on top at a depth of 3 - 4” to give some variety in height and flowers.
Consider the lasagna layering technique when planting a combination of larger bulbs and smaller together. For this technique you will dig one hole about 6” deep and plant your tulip and daffodils. Then add a layer of soil over the top. Then plant your smaller bulbs before covering the hole completely.
If you’re planting daffodils, plant a variety of daffodils with early, mid, and late bloom times in the same space to extend the show.
Dealing with critters
When designing your bulbs, also take into consideration what critters you have in your yard that might be problematic. Critters, such as deer, squirrels, and chipmunks, love bulb plants. If you know what kinds of pests you have, you can also plant bulbs that they aren’t as attracted to. Squirrels, for example, don’t tend to like plants such as daffodils, alliums, scilla, hyacinth, muscari, fritillaria, and snowdrops.
There you have it! Some tips for designing a beautiful bulb display.
Get your bulbs now so you have time to design and plant them before the first frost.
Once all your hard work is done, sit back, relax, and marvel as your flowers come to life in spring. Happy gardening!