Spring Blooming Bulbs Enhance Perennial Gardens

Spring Blooming Bulbs combines beautifully with new and existing perennial beds. Using a mixture of perennial bulbs, the beauty of the perennial plants is enhanced with the addition of early and mid-spring color.

Our Bulb Collections make it easy to plant beuatiful flower bulb arrangements. Our Early Spring Blooming Bulb Collection offers an assortment of easy-to-grow bulbs that will come back year after year and naturalize (establishing larger colonies as they propagate themselves underground with more bulbs). These small growing bulbs are fall planted and will bloom the following spring, to provide a pleasing mix of yellow, pink and blue colors to wake up your landscape after a long winter. The collection, shown above, includes Tulipa hybrid 'Little Beauty', Muscari 'Delft Blue Mix', Daffodil 'Tete-a-Tete', Iris reticulata 'Harmony', Crocus 'Yellow Mammoth'.

For the last twenty years, High Country Garden customers have enjoyed our professionally designed Pre-Planned Gardens in their home landscapes. These various pre-planned gardens have been created using perennial plants and ornamental grasses to create pollinator-friendly, color-coordinated plantings that are matched for bloom times. The Early Spring Blooming Bulb Collection takes the pre-planned perennial garden one step further.

When planting Perennials or a new Pre-Planned Garden in Fall, gardeners have a perfect opportunity to also plant Spring-Blooming Bulbs! Transplant your perennials first, to give them plenty of time to establish before winter.

Then, after the first hard frost of fall, bring out your fall-planted (spring-blooming) bulbs and put them into the soil.

When planting with most of our Pre-Planned Gardens, one bulb collection is sufficient. For larger gardens, like the Jumbo Waterwise Pre-Planned Garden, two bulb collections will better fill out the space.

When planting these bulbs into an established pre-planned garden, wait until after hard frost to begin. Cut back the perennials to give yourself room to work and a clearer view the ground. Then follow the steps listed above.

1. Divide each bulb variety into two equal groups. So, for example, take the daffodil 'Tete-a-Tete' and make two piles of 12 and 13. Do this with the other four varieties.
2. Take the individual bulb piles into the garden and place them on top of the ground between the perennial plants using their recommended spacing. Avoid making rows of bulbs; rather space them more naturally as you weave them between the plants. Place the Crocus, Mini Iris and Tulip toward the front and edges of the pre-planned garden bed and the Daffodil and Muscari toward the middle and back.
3. Make sure the soil is slightly moist, so when you dig the individual bulb holes, the soil doesn't collapse back into the hole. Using your bulb planter, make the holes 3 to 4" deep. Have a bucket of soil pre-mixed with Yum Yum Mix fertilizer at hand. Drop the bulbs into the holes, cover with the soil/Yum Yum Mix mixture and firm into place.
4. Spread mulch across the whole planting to a depth of 1 to 2 inches and water thoroughly.

There is no need to plant all the bulbs into the middle of your pre-planned gardens. It's perfectly acceptable to plant the smallest bulbs (Crocus, Tulip and Miniature Iris) in groupings in front of and to the sides of the perennials, thus slightly extending the edges of the garden. Plant the Daffodil and Muscari groups into the middle and back of the garden to visually knit the bulbs together.

With the conclusion of the fall planting season, take some time to sit on your patio and admire your work with a refreshing beverage of your choice. And then, before you know it, winter will be giving way to spring and your perennial gardens will wake up with pleasing bursts of spring blooming bulbs.