Spring Flowering Bulbs.

It is starting to get a little late for planting spring flowering bulbs and garlic. The idea is to get them in the ground before the ground starts to freeze so their roots can establish themselves.

If you are a little late planting your bulbs there's no need to worry. With a good layer of mulch you can prevent the ground from freezing as quickly as it would without mulch and there's a good chance your bulbs will succeed. I have even planted bulbs in mild December weather that, with a good layer of straw, bloomed in the spring. Make sure you use healthy mold free and solid bulbs. Follow the planting depth guidelines for the specific bulbs, work in a little bonemeal or bulb fertilizer, water well after planting and mulch with an insulating layer such as straw or maple leaves. Bulbs give you a lot of bang for your buck, most naturalize extremely well and are affordable to buy. They are some of the first flowers to bloom in the spring and attract and feed pollinators like bees in the garden. You can create quite the impressive display by planting a few bulbs. 

I'm obviously going for an informal look here with my bulbs. I picked a few different colours for my bulb colour scheme and amended the soil greatly before planting my bulbs. After amending the soil, I seemed to have woken up some dormant additions to the garden the previous owners had included. This threw my whole colour scheme off and I could not be happier. Everything still blends together in a very casual care free manner that matches my personality.  If you would like a more formal look in your bulb garden pick only a few, meaning 3, colours or kinds of bulbs and plant them in mass plantings, using at least 2 dozen of each bulb to create a showy display. When planting bulbs that naturalize really well and easily, I usually plant smaller groups and allow them to fill in over the years. This technique creates a less dramatic effect during the first years however it postpones having to divide the bulbs sooner than later.