Blooms

To extend the length of blooms, do a little homework. With proper variety selection you can have color from late January through April, all with spring bulbs. Decide where you need color, and what else is growing there, and when it blooms. You wouldn’t want to plant hot pink tulips next to orange blooming azaleas, if they are in bloom at the same time. Color selection is important. Although your personal preferences are of the utmost importance, knowing which colors work together can help in the final outcome.

Colors

An easy division of color is the cool versus warm colors. Reds, yellows and oranges are warm colors, while blues, purple and pinks are cool colors. Warm colors are intense and invigorating, while cool colors are peaceful and harmonious. Make sure your color choices blend in well with your existing landscape and home. The most successful plantings use solid blocks of color. Keep your color schemes simple, and only use a few colors.

Types

The earliest bulbs include winter aconite and crocus. These small growing plants are rich in color, and can be planted in dappled shade to full sun. Crocus bulbs come in a variety of shades of white, yellows and purples. Crocus bulbs can be planted in your lawn area, simply removing some plugs of grass, then plant the small bulbs. The plants will emerge in the lawn area and by the time you need to mow for the first time, they will already be through. Winter aconite or eranthis, is not as common, but has lovely yellow, honey-scented flowers.

Snowdrops or galanthus, and snowflakes or leucojum are old fashioned flowers. These small bulbs do best in partial shade, and have pretty white flowers. Bluebells and scillas are other good choices for a woodland bulb planting. They flower in mid spring and have lovely hyacinth like clusters of flowers in shades of blue, purple, pink or white. Grape hyacinth are lovely small flowering plants with dense spikes of purple flowers. Many have attractive spiky foliage which appears in the fall. When you talk about small flowers, remember that you will need more plants for a big impact.

If you are an iris fan, there are bulbous iris that bloom in early spring, and the foliage dies down at the end of their season. Dutch iris make a beautiful show in the spring, and you don’t have to deal with the foliage year-round.

Some other unusual flowers are the flowering onion or flowering alliums. Height will vary by variety with dwarfs no taller than six inches to the giant alliums that can grow four to six feet tall. All of the alliums produce round flower heads, and come in shades of pink, purple or white. These unusual flowers can really add a focal point to your garden.

The fritillarias offer another interesting flower for the garden. This member of the lily family blooms in late spring, and bears its flowers in a cluster at the top of leafy stems. The impressive crown fritillaria is a show stopper in late season.

Experiment with new and interesting bulbs, but don’t forget the tried-and-true. Hundreds of varieties of daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are available. Tulips, which provide one of the showiest displays, is often hard to get to bloom well again. This year, many of the local nurseries are offering heritage bulbs, or the old fashioned tulips. These are supposed to re-bloom better for us -- we’ll have to wait and see. Regardless of their re-bloom, no garden would be complete without some tulips. And if it is scent you are after, hyacinths are a must. And the spring sentinal for many is still the daffodil. Besides the traditional yellow, there are pinks, doubles, whites, and oranges available.

Bulbs are excellent for spring color, whether used as a mass planting, or in a mixture with other perennial or spring blooming shrubs, or in containers. The choices of colors, heights and bloom periods offers so many opportunities. Visit your local nursery and look at the options, then plant. Bulb planting season is from now through December.