Selecting and Using Fall Bulbs

Create a color plan

Choosing color schemes for your garden is similar to choosing color for your house or your clothing. Avoid the temptation to pick favorite bulbs individually and try to design the entire effect. A professional garden designer’s simple rule is to limit the number of colors in a display area to three, one of which should take up 70% and the others 15% each. If you want contrast, combine cool and warm colors; for harmony combine colors of the same temperature that are close to each other in tone and intensity. Good news: Bulbs are pretty easy to dig up and relocate – so if you don’t love this year’s color combination – move them.

Combine bloom heights

Most people get excited by color, but mixing and matching bloom height is also creative and fun.

• The smallest are Hyacinths and Crocuses. These are best used at bed edges and around the periphery of Winter-Spring container gardens.
• Medium height bulbs include Tulips, Daffodils, Anemones and Irises that grow to 1-1.5 feet tall. Use them for filling flowerbeds or naturalizing meadows.
• Alliums are the tallest fall bulbs. They produce 2-3 foot tall flower stalks topped with large balls of flowers. Designer tip: Plant Alliums and other tall bulbs toward the back if your flowerbeds will be viewed from the side. If your bed will be viewed from both sides, place them toward in the middle.

A nice effect is to plant small bulbs in front of tall, but this of course only works for bulbs that bloom at the same time.

The bouquet effect

For a more attractive natural look plant bulbs in groups or clusters. Many people space bulbs out to cover the most area, but the effect is thin, sort of like a bad hair transplant. For a natural effect: dig a large area and plant several bulbs at once or simply toss the bulbs into the air and dig holes and plant where ever they fall. You’ll be surprised how well this works.