Looking for some fall bulb choices so that you have beautiful flowers coming up in the spring? Below are top 10 fall bulbs that you can plant to have a gorgeous garden come spring.

Fall Bulb – Allium

These flowers are gorgeous globes of deep pink, purple or a reddish purple bloom in the late spring. They’re also called ornamental onions, meaning deer and rodents don’t care for their taste.

Bulbs for Fall – Crocus

These beautiful flowers are very early bloomers, and they often will appear even when snow’s still covering the ground. When they are planted thickly, they give you a gorgeous sea of color. However, since they are often dug up by chipmunks and squirrels, you shouldn’t be surprised to find them in other spots in the yard.

Fall Bulb – Daffodil

These flowers are often seen at Easter, and they’re also known as narcissus. They’re very simple to grow and dependable, and they bloom from early-late spring. Rodents such as squirrels won’t bother them because the bulbs and leaves have poisonous crystals in them.

Bulbs for Fall Dwarf Iris

These flowers have delicate blossoms and bloom in the earliest part of the spring. This flower’s petals have very interesting frills and the foliage stays beautiful even when the flowers have faded.

Fall Bulb – Grape Hyacinth

These cute little bulbs are related to the hyacinth. Their smell is not quite as deep as the larger ones, being sligltly grape, and they come in blue, ombre, purple and white flower cluters. They quickly multiply each season and they’re left alone by rodents.

Bulbs for Fall – Hyacinth

Another favorite flower at Easter, hyacinth comes in shades of blue, pink, purple and white and has a sweet scent. Their blooms last for a long time and reliably come back each year.

Fall Bulb – Scilla

These are blue-white or porcelain blue flowers in star shapes and they come up in the early part of spring. Also known as squill, they’re beautiful when planted in clusters in a rock garden, as your ground cover where grass can’t grow or beneath trees.

Bulbs for Fall – Snowflake

Snowflakes are tiny plants and they are also known as leucojum. They bloom profusely during the eawrly spring and multiply by themselves. Rodents usually do not bother them.

Fall Bulb – Starflower

These are tiny flowers, also known as ipheion, and many people don’t know that they exist. However, they have been appearing in gardens since back in colonial times. The blooms are sweetly scented and come in blue or white shades.

Fall Bulb – Tulip

Of course, we couldn’t have a list of fall bulbs without mentioning tulips. Tulips are annual flowers, so they have to be planted each year. They also are often dug up by chipmunks and squirrels. You can protect them by using chicken wire to create a cage or plant them in pots with something like daffodils, which rodents don’t like, planted on top.

Want to have some help with your fall bulb planting? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Now that fall is here, now’s the perfect time to think about planting some fall bulbs to encourage flowers to come up in the spring. Below are some tips that you can use to help your flowers have the best start in life.

Choose Quality Bulbs

When you are going to plant bulbs in the fall, you want to make sure you’re choosing high-quality ones. Look for the ones that are firm and plump. You don’t want to choose ones with mold that’s growing on the bulb or that are mushy and soft. You also want to buy large ones. When you have large bulbs, you likely have a better chance of them blooming than when you choose small ones.

Select the Right Spot for Fall Bulb Planting

Even if you have healthy bulbs, they are going to fail if you don’t choose the right spot to plant them in. The majority of bulbs will do best when they get a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight per day and soil that is well-drained.

Time the Planting Right for Fall Bulbs

If you want your flowers to bloom in spring, and you’re planting daffodils and tulips, they should be planted from September to October. This is when your soil temperatures have cooled. These types of flowers do best in cool soil temperatures.

Make Sure Your Bulbs are Planted Deeply Enough

If you aren’t sure how deeply the bulbs should be planted, you aren’t alone. This is a question that a lot of gardeners ask. In general, a hole should be dug that’s 2-3x deeper than the height of your bulb. Therefore, if your bulb’s 3 inches high, the hole should be 6-9” deep. But with everything else there are exceptions, so you want to check the directions on the bulb’s packaging.

Plant Fall Bulbs Point Facing Up

Another common question is how bulbs should be planted. There’s an end that’s pointed on your bulb, and that’s usually what should be facing up. If there’s not a visible pointy side, then look for where the bulb’s roots come out. This should be facing down.

Give Your Bulbs Good Soil

Just like most other plants, bulbs like soil that’s well-drained and full of organic matter. So you should mix some compost into the holes and this will help ensure they bloom well. This is important especially if your soil is heavy in clay or the ground remains wet.

Stop the Weeds from Taking Over

Weeds aren’t just ugly – they steal the nutrients from your soil and could attract disease or insects. A really easy way that you can prevent the problem of weeds is to put 2-3” of mulch on your soil. Bulbs are going to push easily through it when weeds won’t.

Water Your Fall Bulbs Well

Since bulbs are plants, you will want to water them after they’ve been planted. This is going to encourage the bulbs to establish their roots faster. This also will eliminate any air pockets which may be in your soil that could also cause them to become dried out.

Protect the Bulbs

Critters like squirrels love to dig up bulbs that you just planted. You can hide the bulbs by spreading mulch over the holes. If this doesn’t do the job, you can put chicken wire or mesh over your soil and weigh it down to stop the digging. Once your bulbs start sprouting from the ground, it’s usually safe to remove this protection.

These are 9 easy tips that you can use to plant your fall bulbs. If you are still concerned, fall plant installations is a service that we offer. Contact us today and we’ll be glad to give you a quote.