Water cooler: Planting bulbs offers us the glimmer of hope that we all need

Bulb-planting in the fall is always an act of hope. This year, it becomes a form of therapy. When the crocuses, daffodils and tulips next flower, we will be assured of at least one thing: It won’t be 2020.

Not much is instant in the garden, but spring bulbs planted in autumn come pretty close. I can’t think of anything more forward-looking or reassuring at the moment than planting tulip bulbs.

From a practical standpoint, it’s difficult to mess up with bulbs; they are little packages programmed to grow and bloom. All they need is some moisture and the enduring cold soil of winter to shoot up and flower early next year.

Even if you ignore the earliest bloomers – the snowdrops and aconites – carefully selected bulbs can give you a show that in the Mid-Atlantic begins in late February and endures until at least late May, offering three months of icing on the vernal cake.

The next month is prime bulb-planting season, but these wee packets of spring can go in anytime before the ground freezes. I’d get to this sooner rather than later, though. In the hyperdomestic pandemic paradigm, many people are jumping on bulb-planting as a way of doing something for and around their homes, and varieties are selling out.

Crocuses launch a continuous and overlapping display, followed by daffodils and tulips and alliums, or ornamental onions. This weekslong parade is enlivened by specialty bulbs that bloom in the following order, loosely: giant snowdrop, bulbous iris, common snowdrop, crocus, scilla, chionodoxa (glory-of-the-snow), windflower and muscari (grape hyacinth). By variety, daffodils generally bloom from late February to late April, tulips from late March to early May, and most alliums in May to early June. Hyacinths bloom in early spring; I find them awkward in the garden but cheerful as indoor potted plants. I’ve given up on fritillaries, which are, in my experience, one-shot wonders in hot, humid regions.

My long-standing advice has been to plant far more bulbs than you think is enough, so you can create drama in the garden. (The smaller the bulb, the more you should plant.)

I was thinking that Tim Schipper, owner of bulb retailer Colorblends, would agree with me; his business model relies on bigger orders, both for landscapers and consumers.

But he says that a common mistake of new gardeners is to buy too many bulbs that never make it into the ground, because, well, bulbs don’t plant themselves.

“It’s hard work,” he said. “Take a smaller bite, see how it goes, don’t try to get it all done in one year.”

Bulbs are available from independent garden centers, mail-order bulb companies and other online retailers. Mass merchandisers are another source, but selection tends to be limited and the availability period short.

There are two basic ways to employ bulbs. The first is to plant in large blocks, the second to intersperse them among existing perennials. The latter course is especially effective in spring-themed beds, where bulbs pop up between such things as hellebores, epimediums, creeping phlox, foam flowers, Virginia bluebells, Solomon’s seal and ferns.

In recent years, I’ve tried a different approach by finding spare beds in the vegetable garden for extravagant tulip displays. The bulbs are lifted and discarded in May, and then the beds are used for summer vegetables. By crowding the tulips together, – avoid having the bulbs touch – I can take plenty for the vase without affecting the show.

If you have blocks of perennials, such as hostas or day lilies, or expansive ground covers, you can achieve the same effect of a carpet of tulips by planting densely if carefully. Otherwise, it’s a case of planting isolated clumps of spring bulbs in existing beds. The perennials, as they grow, mask the declining bulb foliage. Amid beefier perennials, you will need to plant taller bulbs, such as big daffodils and tulips and alliums, to elevate the show sufficiently.

Four-legged pests are always an issue with bulbs; a prime culprit right after planting is the squirrel. One trick is to plant the bulbs deeply – to 6or 7 inches – and cover with a little mulch to hide the disturbed soil. In smaller areas, an inch or 2 of pea gravel may provide a barrier, and this looks attractive.

Come spring, deer will regard tulips and crocuses as candy. Repellents will help, but the best remedy against furry invaders in fall and spring is to focus on daffodils and alliums, which both squirrels and deer find distasteful.