Be Bold With Your Bulbs
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(For links to lots of great how-to information and actual plans, see end of this article.)
In for a penny, in for a pound. There is no such thing as "planting a few bulbs".
My first minor bulb episode many years ago resulted in a mail order for 836 of them according to my husband who remembers impressive things like that. I just wanted to make sure I ordered enough to get free shipping! And, oh, but they'll naturalize and we'll have more next year so it's sort of like an investment. I can rationalize almost anything.
And I wanted some of everything - the little snow crocus and the regular crocus and the scilla siberica and the puschkinia and then the peppermint tulips and the poets narcissus and the BIG tulips and the DAFFODILS and then the fragrant hyacinths and the little grape hyacinths and and and .... I love bulbs! And they'll multiply!
But of course the next spring I was disappointed because there just weren't ENOUGH.
Sure I had little drabs of color here and there everywhere, but no big bold displays, no sea of blooms. Definitely not what I had imagined. Definitely not like the pictures. And definitely nothing to write home about.
And in the fall when the boxes came I had been surprised, too - no huge packing crates, but nicely manageable boxes with little paper and mesh bags inside. A dozen crocus bulbs don't take up much space in your hand or in the garden!
And that's how I learned my lesson. THINK BIG! THINK BOLD!
I still try to buy bulbs in vast quantities - but all of one kind at a time. They look better that way, give more bang for the buck. A handful of crocus is cheery but a bunch of blooms is better. A clump of daffodils out front is nice but an ocean of flowers is memorable. Six little tulips are fine but a wave is a showstopper. So if you are planting bulbs, pour it on and err on the side of too many. The blues especially seem not to stand out, so add extra of those. Just make sure they're all of one kind.
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