Bulbs, corns, and rhizomes. Oh my! It’s that time of year when you invest in your garden by planting bulbs that will pop up and light up your spring. 

If you’ve always envied your neighbor’s tulips, iris, daffodils, this article is for you. We’ll go over everything you need to prep your garden for the perfect display of spring and summer flower bulbs.

How & When To Plant Your Bulbs This Fall

Bulbs are some of the easiest plants to plant! They also require little-to-no maintenance from year to year. If you’re new to the beautiful world of bulbs, here’s how to get started on the right root.

Spring and summer bulbs need to be planted in the fall. This is because most need to go through a dormancy period initiated by cold temperatures in order to know to bloom. Most spring bulbs need 12 to 16 weeks of cold weather for their best success.

So, when you order “fall-planted bulbs,” you want to plant them when they arrive or soon after. If you cannot get to plant them right away, store them tightly wrapped in newspaper in a cool, dry place until you can. Do not put them in your freezer--this is too cold.

If you wait too long to get your bulbs in the ground, you will have a heck of a time getting your shovel into your frozen dirt. 

Give your bulbs room to spread. Almost all bulbs are perennials that naturalize. 

This means they will multiply on their own, usually through splitting off into a new bulb or rhizome. 

Because of this, you want to give your fall-planted bulbs plenty of room to spread their roots and fill in. If you plant them too close together, you’ll find you have to divide them soon after planting them.

Bulbs and Corms

Follow guidelines, including spacing and depth. Bulbs usually like to be planted at three times the depth of the height of their bulb. It’s always better to go deeper rather than shallower if you’re unsure. 

This depth keeps the bulbs moist and prevents them from drying out or being overly exposed to weather during their dormancy. 

If your bulbs are too shallow, you may notice them peeping their leaves up too early just to die back on a colder spring day.

Most will naturalize by reproducing, so plan on giving them space.

Irises

Plant your iris rhizomes on a mound of soil. Position them with their roots spread out over the mound. Cover the roots with soil, but allow a little bit of the rhizome to be exposed. This mound allows the water to run off roots more easily, so they don’t sit in water for too long.

Water your irises well for the first two weeks then cut back to once or twice a week until frost. 

Daylilies

These beauties spread fast--give them plenty of room. Depending on your zone, Daylilies may also want water if they foliage to begin setting roots. 

How to Care for Your Spring Bulbs

As far as this fall, your bulbs don’t need much care. In spring, they’ll pop up and bloom. 

As far as spring care, you also don’t have to fuss too much over your bulbs. As your bulbs’ foliage fades after they bloom, you can snip back brown and unattractive leaves--except for tulips. 

Why not clean up your tulips’ leaves? They need all the energy they can get from their wilting leaves to come back strong next year. You can rubberband their leaves for a tidier appearance though.

Your irises and summer bloomers will likely establish their foliage for a longer time before blooming and after. Water them all as needed. Some irises are even evergreen, so you can count on green leaves throughout winter for these. 

When to Expect Your Bulbs to Blooms

You’ll find that some bulbs will bloom as early as late winter. These include certain varieties of crocus, snowdrops, cyclamen. Lenten roses also called “hellebores” have long-lasting blooms from winter into spring. Other bulbs will bloom as late as late spring and into summer. 

You’ll find that most bulbs are labeled with their bloom time, but your zone will ultimately determine exactly when you can expect them to bloom. 

Here’s what those labels mean, in general:

Early: A few weeks before or after the last frost

• Crocus, hyacinth, daffodils, ranunculus, 

Mid-Spring: A month or more after the last frost

• Tulips, daffodils, iris, hyacinths, fritillaria 

Late Spring: A few weeks before or as spring turns into summer

• Alliums, gladiolus, daylilies, iris, ranunculus

Early Summer: The first few weeks of summer weather

• Liatris, iris, gladiolus, calla lilies

Mid-to-Late Summer: The height of summer and from summer into fall

• Lilies, crocosmia, dahlias

How to Style Your Bulbs by Color, Height, Species & Bloom-Time

Arranging your bulbs takes a bit of planning, but it’s not difficult. Before you put shovel-to-ground, you will want to decide what color combinations and styles of bulb planting you appreciate. 

If you’ve ever stopped to marvel at someone’s bulb display, note what their bulbs caught your eye. This can help you narrow down what you’ll want to do with your own landscaping.

Here are some general tips and tricks to make the most of your bulbs:

Stagger Your Bloom Times

To extend the beauty of spring and summer bulbs, choose a few bulbs from each bloom time. That means you’ll want some early, mid, and late spring blooms along with a variety of summer blooms.

Use a Bleach-Style Arrangement

Use shorter bulbs as front border blooms and use taller blooms in the back. 

Make a Major Impact

Bulbs often look best when planted en-masse--a lot of one variety in one area. When you group your bulbs by color, your bulbs make a bigger visual impact.

Consider Color Combinations or Color Aesthetics

A monochromatic look: Plant a variety of bulb species all in the same color.

A complementary color scheme: Choose bulbs colors that are opposite on the color wheel. Violet & yellows or oranges is one of the most common complementary color schemes. Adding in whites can make these colors pop even more.

An analogous color scheme: Choose bulbs with colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel. These can include shades of red and pink with white, blues and violets with white, and yellows, reds, and oranges. 

Color temperatures themes: Consider choosing colors that are warm colors versus cool hues. 

When it comes to planting your bulbs this fall, don’t forget to have fun! Bulbs are some of the most spectacular flowers you can find, and they’re one of the best ways to celebrate spring. 

Happy planting!