The Serendipity of Spring Bulbs

 

I never feel a perennial garden is complete without the addition of spring bulbs. The wonderful serendipitous quality of bulbs make the early spring garden truly come alive — a vivid reminder that we can bid adieu to the long cold and grey of winter.

Whether you are just a beginner or a more seasoned gardener nothing will feed your soul more than a fabulous display of spring bulbs. Planted en masse, the luscious colors, subtle fragrances and long blooming flowers creates a wonderful prelude for the unfolding spring season. A carefully selected collection of spring bulbs will provide a symphony of successive blooms that will enliven your garden with many months of amazing color and fragrance.

By incorporating a mix of early, middle and late blooming bulbs, you are ensured of a display that will span several months. The early bloomers of March and April are snowdrops, crocus, Iris reticulata, Scilla, Chionodoxa followed by daffodils and hyacinths. With careful planning now, the entire month of April can be a spectacular display of flowering bulbs in a multitude of forms and a rainbow of colors.

Snowdrops–the absolute purity of the first bloomers

Iris reticulata blooms through snow in March–tiny orchid like flowers on slender stems 

Massed crocuses planted in a lawn make a colorful sweeping statement and will multiply each year

Daffodils will naturally multiply and rebloom every year–a great investment for every garden

Detail of Apricot Parrot Tulips–sultry and voluptuous–blooms for a long time in the mid-April garden

Tall lily flowering white tulips with long blooming ‘Thalia’ daffodil

Allium karataviense ‘Ivory Queen’–Low growing with bluish leaves and sparkling white flowers-a real underused but stunning flowering onion

A mid-June medley-Ornithogalum magnum. gladious byzantinus & Allium chistophii–the ultimate combination for a home wedding

Majestic purple and white alliums provide the perfect vertical accent to the early June garden–blooming for several weeks