It's time to plant bulbs

You may be growing tired of planting, weeding, watering and dividing perennials, but before you hang up the shovel for the season, plant some bulbs.

It takes a little work, a lot of patience and it doesn't pay off until spring, but when bulbs begin blooming in March, it pays off big time. Plant a wide variety of bulbs for blooms from March until May.

Double snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis Flore Pleno) grow 4 inches tall and sport nodding, double white flowers tipped in green. Snowdrops bloom first in my landscape — in late winter or very early spring. Plant snowdrops closely spaced in informal masses under trees and shrubs or tuck them into small nooks in perennial borders.

Another early bloomer, crocus are among the most widely planted of early-spring bulbs. Their small, cup-shaped flowers are available in countless colors and sometimes push their way through snow to bloom. Plant them in rock gardens, in large drifts, or with small, spring-blooming perennials.

Nothing heralds the arrival of spring like the golden trumpets of daffodils. There are hundreds of varieties, from the petite Baby Moon to the large Dutch Master, and the all-white Thalia to the red-cupped, orange-petaled Ambergate. With proper planning you can have daffodils blooming in your yard from early to late spring.

Daffodils perennialize, providing years and years of flowers. And if your garden is also home to squirrels and chipmunks, daffodils are pest proof.

Tulips are the royal family of the bulb world. They are available in an incredible range of flower colors and bloom shapes. Many are valuable for one or two years of bloom in the garden before declining; some are truly perennial.

Tulips that perennialize include the Darwin group, the Fosteriana group and the dwarf species tulips. But even tulips that don't perennialize deserve a place in your garden. They are an inexpensive way to bring annual color to the spring garden.

Plant some alliums this year. These members of the ornamental onion family bear flowers that resemble fireworks celebrating the arrival of spring. Choose from small varieties barely a foot tall to 4-foot high selections that tower over spring-blooming perennials. You will love them all, but none are appealing to deer or squirrels.

Bulbs grow well in soil amended with compost and most cannot tolerate poor drainage.

Plant them pointy side up. If you are unsure which side is up, plant bulbs on their sides. The general rule is to plant bulbs three times as deep as the height of the bulb and space them apart about 2 times the bulb height.

Mix bulb fertilizer into the soil when planting bulbs, and fertilize again after bulbs have finished flowering in the spring.

• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.