Design a Spring Bulb Garden for Eight Weeks of Continuous Bloom

Choose Bulbs to Create a Long-Lasting Spring Display

Fall is the time to plant for a spring spectacle. Invest a couple of hours on a crisp autumn afternoon, and you’ll enjoy a succession of blooms from late March into May. Planting spring bulbs couldn’t be simpler: dig a hole, place the bulb, cover it up. Once planted, they sleep through winter, then emerge, bud, and bloom with zero maintenance.

The trick is selecting bulbs for a long season. Here’s an easy method: imagine you have $90 to fill a 3 ft. × 6 ft. blank area. Browse the four bloom-period categories below and pick at least one or two bulb types from each. Whether “early spring” arrives in February (Virginia) or April (Vermont), the bulbs will flower in sequence as winter ends.

Very Early Spring

• Chionodoxa forbesii (glory-of-the-snow)
• Eranthis cilicica (winter aconite)
• Scilla siberica (Siberian squill, Star of Holland)
• Snow crocus
• Iris reticulata (dwarf iris)

Early Spring

• Crocus
• Early daffodil
• Emperor tulip

Mid Spring

• Species tulip
• Hyacinth
• Daffodil
• Triumph tulip
• Muscari (grape hyacinth)
• English bluebell
• Fritillaria imperialis (crown imperial)

Late Spring

• Allium
• Dutch iris
• Iris pumila (dwarf bearded iris)
• Late tulips
• Leucojum aestivum (summer snowflake)

Chionodoxa forbesii, glory-of-the-snow, is among the very first to bloom. Plant a mix from each group, and you’ll have a rolling wave of color for eight glorious weeks.