Flowerbulbs celebrate spring

Planting flowerbulbs is one of my favorite fall gardening tasks.

I like to plant them on crisp, sunny autumn days, imagining how, in just a few months, my spring bulbs - colorful crocuses, tulips and daffodils - will brighten winter-weary spirits.

If you plan carefully, the show of bulbs can last from late winter to June. The beauty of spring-flowering bulbs is their incredible variety, in size and shape, color and bloom time.

In fall when the garden is still full of foliage from summer's perennials, it's hard to recall how stark the beds can look in early spring. So try to plant abundantly so your spring show has a bigger impact.

Spring show: jewel-colored tulips,
daffodils and hyacinths
Photo: ©istock.com

The big three for spring:
Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths

If there's one bulb that seems to personify spring, it has to be tulips.

These bulbs are the ultimate visual spring tonic, and there are scores of wonderful tulip varieties to choose from. You can even go for the drama of 'black' tulips.

Next to tulips, daffodils are amongst the best-loved spring bulbs, and unlike tulips, their flowers are deer and squirrel-proof.

Beloved for their spring fragrance, modern hyacinths come in showy colors, and are easy to force for indoor display.

Other attractive flowerbulbs

Tulips may be the most popular spring bulbs, but there are many lovely, easy-to-grow, lesser-known bulbs.

More tips for gardening with flowerbulbs

When in fall to plant bulbs? Hint: not too early

Bulb planting: How and where to plant, squirrel solutions

Designing with spring bulbs: How to get more bang from your buck

Bulb leaves: What to do about daffodil and tulip leaves after blooming

Didn't plant bulbs
last fall?

You can now buy bulb plants in containers and pop them into your garden at normal bulb-blooming time. So why not try bulb plants in spring?

They include windflowers (Anemone blanda), wild hyacinth (Camassia), guinea-hen flower (Fritillaria meleagris), Persian fritillaria, (Fritillaria Persica) and Bulgarian ornamental onion (Nectaroscordum siculum).

Fortunately, most of them are unappealing to garden menaces such as deer and squirrels.

If you're looking for easy-care gardening, many of these lesser known, unusual spring bulbs also naturalize well to come back year after year, spreading if they're happy.