Jazz Up Your Garden with Spring‑Planted Bulbs

Dahlias, Gladiolus, and Lilies: Hot Color and Fragrance for Late Summer

Sierra Nevada is a fragrant Oriental variety.

Spring‑planted bulbs are powerhouses of stored energy, blooming just months after planting. They hit their stride in late summer when other flowers fade, adding a jolt of color and fragrance to beds, borders, and bouquets. All make excellent cut flowers.

The Big Three

Dahlias

Once I found them gaudy; now I’m a fan. Later frosts give extra bloom weeks. A hand‑sized tuber clump produces extravagant flowers. In my zone 4/5, I start tubers in pots a month before planting out—easier to place a leafy plant than reserve empty space. See How to Grow Dahlias for details.

Gladiolus

Runner‑up in the gaudy category. Stiff form is hard to integrate into mixed borders, so I grow them in the cutting garden in rows near zinnias. Plant two or three batches of corms two weeks apart for six weeks of blooms. Try Gladiolus callianthus (acidanthera/peacock orchids)—delicate, intensely fragrant, popular in England.

See The Basics: Gladiolus.

Lilies

In late summer, nothing beats lilies. Bulbs are pricey but each yields a 4‑foot stalk with 6–10 giant, powerfully fragrant blooms—a bargain. I grow three types:

• Trumpet lilies (Regale, Golden Splendor, African Queen) – first to bloom, complex fragrance.
• Oriental lilies – dozens of varieties with staggered bloom times; mixed bags give 6–8 weeks of flowers.
• Rubrum lilies – latest, sometimes October. Recurved, pendulous flowers. Species lily, similar to wild forms. Planted in shade garden; appear magically after the rest of the garden fades.

See The Basics: Lilies.

Spring‑planted bulbs transform the late‑season garden into a fragrant, colorful spectacle.