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How to Plant Bulbs
Planting Bulbs and Other Bulbous Plants
Learn the art and techniques of creating beautiful bulb displays by choosing healthy bulbs and planting them in pots, beds, and in landscapes.
Creating glorious bulb landscapes begins when—with your tools in hand and plans and ideas in mind—you plant your containers, landscape beds and borders with spring, summer, and autumn-blooming bulbs.
Bulbs are ideal for small gardens and for decks, patios, or balconies, and they require suitable containers and good soil for planting.
Getting Started
After a trip to your garden store, nursery or online merchant to pick the best bulbs for your plant hardiness zone, climate, microclimate, and site, head for your potting table or prepare your garden beds to plant them [see: Soil for Bulbs in Containers or Preparing Soil for Bulbs].
Learn how to choose the right planters for your bulbs and the steps to follow when preparing them for planting [see: Planting Bulbs into Containers].
Planting
You’ll see exactly how to create a variety of different bulb plantings [see: 7 Ways to Plant Bulbs]. Grow fabulous displays of blooms that feature a single bulb species, or try your hand at mixed plantings of bulbs by setting several species in layers by depth [see: Mixing Bulbs With Other Plants].
Want formal bulb plantings, or something a bit more casual? Both are demonstrated [see: 7 Ways to Plant Bulbs].
After-Planting Care
Once you finish planting bulbs in your containers and garden beds, you’ll find everything you need to provide care for them until they bloom [see: After-Planting Care of Bulbs].
Explore new ideas as you plant your bulbs, indoors and out.
Where to Buy Bulbs
Finding the right spot to buy your bulbs is a bit puzzling.
Brick-and-mortar retail nurseries and garden stores usually stock a limited selection of bulbs during the spring and fall planting seasons.
The option to inspect the quality of bulbs before you buy is a real plus. Still, there are other options.
Online garden suppliers may have a much wider selection from which to choose. They also stock bulbs far longer than local merchants. They may be your only choice for buying bulbs when local stores run out of inventories.
Remember when browsing online, it’s hard to judge the true size and quality of bulbs you purchase until they arrive.
Always remember that many bulbs are imported from other countries, and long delivery times may be needed for them to reach your area. Some bulbs are simply not available except during a short window of time.
The Best Option
So what’s our advice?
If you wish to plant one of the 6–8 most common bulbs and are willing to sacrifice a wide choice of color, buy bulbs when they become available in local stores. That’s usually in September–October and in February–March, though times may vary in cold-climate regions.
If, instead, your heart is set on an unusual bulb species, a specific variety, or a large number of a single color, choose online providers and shop by bulb grade [see: Choosing Healthy Bulbs].