Summer flowers have faded, and the warm colors of fall are at their height. Now’s the perfect time to plant bulbs for spring color.
In this blog, you’ll learn about
- What spring bulbs you can plant now for spring flowers
- How to plant bulbs if you’re a new gardener
- How Brinly-Hardy’s tow-behind cart helps you with your fall planting needs.
Spring Bulbs to Plant in the Fall
If you love purple, pink, and yellow against a backdrop of melting snow, then you need to add bulb planting to your fall chore list. You have time until the ground freezes to plant your bulbs.
Here are spring bulb flowers to put in your flowerbeds or raised gardens this fall:
- Daffodils – These hardy bulbs come in miniature to regular sized. You have choices of frilly blossoms, orange center blossoms, and pink daffodils. Also, squirrels and rabbits won’t eat these bulbs because they’re poisonous.
- Snowdrops – These pretty, white flowers pop up at the end of winter to early spring. They’re one of the first spring bulb flowers to bloom. Plant them in clumps in the front of flowerbeds, around trees, or in a rock garden.
- Hyacinths – New varieties of hyacinths come in bold, deep red colors and traditional purple, pink, and white colors. Hyacinths have a delicate floral scent that will float on the breeze and into your home when you have the windows open.
- Grape hyacinths – These hyacinths are the miniature size that can be grown in bunches. Grape hyacinths will also reproduce themselves year-after-year and come in purple, pink, and white.
- Crocuses – These early spring bulb flowers reproduce as well. Crocuses come in a wide variety of colors, including purple stripes against a white background.
Squirrels and chipmunks will dig and replant crocuses throughout your yard. If you don’t mind flowers growing on your lawn before the grass greens up, you’ll a colorful yard.
You can mow the remaining stems and leaves because your grass will start to grow by the time the crocuses die off. Crocuses are easy to grow and will multiply.
Act now: Time is running out to aerate and overseed your lawn!
- Allium – In Latin, allium means garlic, indicating that this spring bulb with purple flowers is related to both the garlic and onion families. Alliums come in other colors besides purple. Alliums bloom in late spring and make excellent background flowers in your borders and beds.
- Tulips – You can add many tulip bulbs into the same hole so that they bunch together. You can mix and match colors to add seasonal interest and to use your tulips as cut flowers. Tulips come in many varieties, colors, and textures.
How Do You Plant Bulbs in the Fall?
While you may be new to spring flower bulbs, they aren’t difficult to grow. You can plant bulbs in containers, along borders, raised beds, or in a rock garden.
Here are a few bulb-planting tips to get you started:
- You can use a bulb planting chart to help you.
- You also need to know what spring-flowering bulbs will grow in your region. If you shop for bulbs at your local garden center, you can be assured that they only carry bulbs that will grow in your area.
- However, the USDA has a handy graphic to confirm what bulbs will succeed in your growing zone.
- You may be interested in bulb planting designs. Remember, many bulbs can be bunched together for interesting color placement. Also, Pinterest has many bulb design boards for you to pin.
Here’s a general rule of thumb for planting bulbs to the right depth in your garden:
- Crocuses between 2”-4” deep
- Hyacinths 4” – 6” deep
- Daffodils 8” deep
- Tulips 4” – 6” deep
- Snowdrops 3” deep
- All bulb sizes can be planted closely together for a burst of color.
Don’t forget to plant bulbs with noses or pointy ends facing up. If you have a hard time telling where the top and bottom are on a bulb, you can plant the bulbs on their sides.
Read more: Tips and Tricks: How to Plant Bulbs in Fall
You can also look for root hairs at the base of the bulb. The root hairs face down in the soil.
Use Brinly-Hardy Tow-Behind Carts to Help You with Your Bulb Planting Needs
Three rules of thumb when planting spring bulb flowers:
- Use bulb fertilizer, peat moss, or compost to mix with the soil before planting bulbs.
- Water the area after you planted the bulbs.
- Cover the area with mulch to protect the bulbs from freeze/thaw cycles.
Invest in Brinly-Hardy’s tow-behind carts to carry your bulbs, gardening tools, watering can, soil amendments, and mulch to the planting sites throughout your property.
Our engineers design all Brinly products to last a long time with our one-piece, heavy-duty compression-molded polypropylene. The thick poly bed won’t rust or dent. And it sits atop a durable powder-coated steel frame.
Our utility carts provide a steep dumping angle and a hands-free foot pedal release.
If you’re ready to buy a Brinly-Hardy tow-behind cart, then buy it online. If you have any questions about your Brinly cart, call our customer service at 877-728-8224, or fill out our contact form.
Sources:
EstabrookOnline.com, “Common Bulb Planting Questions.”
HouseBeautiful.com, “10 Best Bulbs to Plant in the Fall.” Lowes.com, “How to Plant Bulbs in the Spring or Fall.”
