Bulbs – they’re big, beautiful and bold. But they can also be small, dainty and subtle. There are just so many species of bulbs available, there’s bound to be one (or several) that fits perfectly into your garden. Whether you want to create a formal planting (based on repeated geometric patterns and symmetry) or natural groupings (informal drifts that continue to expand through the years), bulbs make a wonderfully colorful focal point.
If you have space to devote a garden specifically to bulbs, try planting in formal patterns using sheared boxwood hedges as a border and backdrop for an elegant display.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Play with your sketchpad to design your bulb layout, breaking up large planting areas into similar smaller ones that repeat themes. (Formal plantings like these call for strong geometric lines and color use.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Trench and border plantings are done similarly to formal beds – bulbs are just planted in a line instead of in a design.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
In a natural setting, like under this tree, the site is prepared for bulb planting, but formal patterns aren’t marked out – you can blend colors more naturally or intermix them for a beautiful effect.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
In fact, when it comes to gardening with bulbs, one of the first decisions you should make is what kind of planting approach you want to take – formal or natural? Don’t know which is for you? Visit some public gardens and parks during the seasons the bulbs you like are in bloom – such places often include extensive bulb plantings as part of their seasonal color displays. Notice how well the beds and borders there are defined in formal settings, or how well the gardens mimic the feel of natural woodlands. Check out how small spaces are used in the garden, and observe how the bulbs are arranged in each planting area, especially with consideration to color and texture.
At home, grab a sketchpad and some colored pencils to experiment with some of your own bulb designs. Start with the arrangement of your beds themselves. Will you define their borders with edging materials, raise them to create new elevations and planes or allow them to blend seamlessly into their surroundings? Will you plant several bulb species or match colors? Will you have all the beds bloom together in one glorious explosion of color to celebrate the season, or should you plant a spectrum of early, late and summer bulbs to create a long succession of flowers?
If you’ve got a large back yard, the designing process is easier to tackle if you divide your space into sections – each with its own planting. For example, an area beneath paired trees would be a good spot for overlapping circular plantings. A winding cleft between two natural rises would be a lovely spot for parallel drifts of bulbs that mimic the existing curves of your property. And it’s always a good idea to connect areas by repeating elements in a different color with another bulb species. For example, a large circular planting might have two smaller, irregular satellites nearby enclosing single, circular flower groupings similar to the larger bed.
Another design technique is to create triangles between group plantings, then use the end points as boundaries for creating trenches filled with drifts of naturalized bulbs. Use two fully overlapped obtuse triangles to fill an irregular, U-shaped planting area, with central primary colors blending in shades to complement the edges. (Of course, this is just one idea – there are as many variations on this as there are gardens!)
No matter how many planting areas you’ve got, it’s wise to choose one site as a focal point for the bloomin’ show – though you might consider having that focal point shift as the garden season progresses. Plant the first highlight with early spring bulbs like crocus and glory-of-the-snow, a second with late spring bloomers like lily-of-the-valley and flag iris, a third with midsummer lily and gladiolus, and a final one with autumn crocus and meadow saffron. Over the seasons, your landscape will boast ever-changing color patterns. Another way to create longer lasting focal points throughout the seasons is to layer your bulb plantings with late blooming species planted deepest and the earlier blooming species planted on top of them.
As you design your plantings, remember to allow access to every area of your yard by planning bulb-free paths across any bed wider or deeper than 4 feet. This provides a comfortable reach from either side for weeding or cultivating. (It’ll also give you enough room to dig up the bulbs later in the season if you live in a part of the country where that’s part of your regular bulb care routine.) You can disguise the paths by making them sinuous or by following a planting’s edge.
Of course, another thing to consider when planning your bulb beds is how they’ll look before and after the blooms have faded. Will you lift your spring bulbs and replant with annuals, or will groundcovers and perennials fill the bed? Should you plant early blooming flowers, like Icelandic poppy or viola, to fill in the area until your summer bulbs bloom? Making these choices before you select and plant your bulbs will save time and effort later.
Finally, don’t feel as if you have to create your entire bulb display in one season. Planting large areas is a lot of work – especially if planting bulbs individually. When working with large numbers of bulbs, it’s often easiest to excavate entire trenches or beds, then plant the entire area. You can develop these areas in stages, implementing one feature at a time over a period of weeks (or months).
In the end, no matter which bulbs you choose or in which season they bloom, all the effort and planning that went into your bulb planting will be well-worth the effort when you see the wonderful colors that spring forth!
Planting Bulb Design
Planting Bulb Design - Step 1
Use a shovel to excavate your future formal bed until it’s 2-3 inches deeper than the planting depth of the largest bulbs you’ll plant.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 2
If burrowing animal pests are an issue in your garden, line the bed with galvanized hardware cloth of half-inch wire mesh.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 3
Apply a 10-10-5 granular fertilizer at the package-recommended rate, then backfill over the fertilizer with 2-3 inches of soil.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 4
Using stakes and string (or plastic garden tape), mark the pattern you want for your planting bed.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 5
Plant the first layer of bulbs. Space them evenly, changing colors between areas. Cover them with soil to the next layer’s depth. (Here, tulips form the first layer.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 6
Plant the second layer of bulbs. Cover them with soil to the top layer’s depth. (Late blooming yellow daffodils form the central accent in this bed.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Planting Bulb Design - Step 7
Plant the top layer of bulbs. (Here, mixed crocus and grape hyacinth form an outer border.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
