> Next: Preparing to Plant Flowers
Planting Flowers and Bulbs
In This Section
In this section, you’ll find discussions, explanations, and directions for planting flowers and starting beautiful flower gardens, with step-by-step demonstrations of methods and techniques, including:
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- Preparing to plant flowering plants and choosing seed or transplant stock.
- When and how bulbs of different species should be planted in to develop and bloom properly.
- How to plant bulbs outdoors in a home garden, with step-by-step demonstrations of options and methods.
- Giving bulbs after-planting care until they become established and are ready to bloom.
- How to plant bulbs in containers, with step-by-step demonstrations of methods, including planting forced bulbs that bloom on demand, out of their normal season.
On This Page
Here, you’ll find discussions of the following subjects plus referrals with more information about those subjects, under each of the titles shown:
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- Planting Landscape and Container Flowers
- Getting Started
- Flower Planting Steps and Choices
- Planting Annual and Perennial Flowers
- Planting Bulbs
- After-Planting Care
- Sources of Bulbs
Planting Landscape and Container Flowers
Learn the craft and techniques of how to plant beautiful flower landscapes and container flower gardens, or flowering houseplants by choosing healthy seeds, bulbs, and transplants for your flowerpots, beds and borders.
With materials and tools in hand and your plan in mind, fill your landscape beds and borders or decorative containers with spring, summer, and autumn-blooming flowers.
First, consider your how each flowering plant or bulb will contribute to your goals.
As you’ve already noted, flowers may stand alone as dramatic garden centerpiece, provide low groundcovers or tall climbing vines, or join with other flowering plants in masses of color [see: Flower Gardening].
They may be seasonal accents, part of a succession of flowers [see: Planting Flower Successions.] Flowers may even form entire unique gardens, such as a cottage garden, a pond’s surrounding, or an island planter used as a focal point in a lawn [see: Flowers in Home Landscapes and Flowers in Containers].
Bulbs, by contrast, are ideal for small gardens and for decks, patios, or balconies, and they require suitable containers and good soil for planting. [see: Bulbs in Home Landscapes and Bulbs Indoors].
Getting Started
After a trip to your garden store, nursery or going online to find sources of healthy seeds, plants and bulbs that match your plant hardiness zone, climate, microclimate, and site, head to your potting table or prepare the soil you need to plant your garden beds and containers [see: Preparing Garden Soil for Flowers, Soil for Flowers in Containers] or Soil for Bulbs in Containers].
Learn how to choose the right decorative pots and containers for your bulbs, and the steps to follow when preparing them for planting [see: Choosing and Preparing Containers].
Here’s a brief recap of things to remember when you plant flowers and bulbs, whether in containers for use outdoors or in you home, or to plant a flower garden in your home landscape.
Flower Planting Steps and Choices
Planting Annual and Perennial Flowers
Growing flowers from seeds is simple and economical compared to buying transplants [see: Choosing Seed or Transplants], but planting nursery-grown transplants in containers is fast and also very easy.
A major plus in favor of transplants is being able to see and feel the health and quality of plants before purchase [see: Selecting Healthy Plants].
Easy-to-follow demonstrations of the proper ways to plant both seeds and transplants outdoors in your garden show you how to perform each method in clear pictures and simple directions [see: Growing Flowers from Seed and Transplanting Seedlings]. For container plantings, preparing containers and transplanting flowers into them also have easy demonstrations [see Choosing and Preparing Containers and Planting Flowers into Containers].
Planting Bulbs
With bulbs, choose either to order them directly from bulb growers, or purchase them in a garden store. Spring-blooming bulbs are generally available in the autumn when they are planted, while summer- and autumn-blooming bulbs reach market in spring just in time for their planting season [see: Bulbs and Seasons of Bloom].
You’ll also 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].
After-Planting Care
Once you finish planting flowers or bulbs in your containers and garden beds, you’ll find everything you need to provide care for them until they bloom [see: Early Care of Container Plants or After-Planting Care].
Explore these new ideas as you plant your flowers and bulbs.
Sources of 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: Preparing to Plant Flowers ].